Nubia Red Magic 5G is a gaming phone with a 144Hz display, active cooling fan, and more

Gaming smartphones have risen the ranks in recent years, banking upon their overkill specifications to deliver some amazing smartphone performance. While gaming smartphones may not provide the best overall smartphone experience, they do have their own niche set up that they’re filling quite nicely. Nubia entered the gaming smartphone genre with the Red Magic and followed it up with the Red Magic Mars, Red Magic 3, and Red Magic 3S. For 2020, Nubia is looking to create a few “firsts” in the gaming smartphone genre with the launch of their new gaming flagship, the Nubia Red Magic 5G. It’s the company’s first 5G device, the first smartphone on the market with a 144Hz refresh rate display, and a few other cool tricks up its proverbial sleeve.

Nubia Red Magic 5G: Specifications

Specification	Nubia Red Magic 5G
Dimensions and Weight	168.56 x 78 x 9.75 mm 218g
Display	6.65″ FHD+ AMOLED; 19.5:9 aspect ratio 144Hz high refresh rate 240Hz touch sampling rate In-display fingerprint sensor
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Adreno 650
RAM and Storage	8GB LPDDR5 + 128GB UFS 3.0 12GB + 128GB 12GB + 256GB 16GB + 256GB
Battery & Charging	4,500 mAh battery 55W fast charging Compatible with Quick Charge 4.0 and Power Delivery 3.0
Rear Camera	Primary: 64MP Sony IMX686 sensor, f/1.8 Secondary: 8MP, Wide-Angle Camera Tertiary: 2MP, Macro
Front Camera	8MP
Other Features	Active cooling through rotating fan within the phone 3.5mm headphone jack Low latency game screencasting Touch-sensitive shoulder buttons WiFi 6 Dual-frequency GPS Side pins for further docking
Android Version	Red Magic OS based on Android 10

The Nubia Red Magic 5G stands out from the crowd of boring glass slab phones with a new design aesthetic that practically screams “gaming phone”.

The design language is quite unique. Nubia has also used distinct color combinations, so there is no mistaking this phone for anything else in the market right now. The back of the phone has a lot going on, with a big X lending the phone some character. The Red Magic logo has RGB LEDs underneath because everything gaming needs RGB. On the sides, the right edge of the phone has the volume rocker, the power button, as well as two shoulder buttons to aid in gaming. These buttons appear to be touch-sensitive buttons, but there are mentions of “two-step actuation” which we are unable to explain as they could possibly be an error in our translation. Much like other previous Nubia gaming phones, the Red Magic 5G also has an active cooling solution, coming in the form of a fan within the phone. The exit vent is on the right edge, while the entry vent for air is on the other end. The left edge of the phone also has 7-pogo pins for connecting to an external dock that can charge the phone and provide ethernet connectivity for a much better and stable internet connection. It also has a slider button for one-push switching into “Gaming Mode” on the phone.

The front of the Nubia Red Magic 5G goes old school with the design, with the front camera integrated within the top thin bezel. What it doesn’t go old school with is the actual phone display, as the phone is the first Android gaming smartphone with a crazy 144Hz high refresh rate. This means that the phone is theoretically better than current 120Hz display options, and is no comparison for phones that launch with 60Hz. Coupled with the 240Hz touch sampling rate, Snapdragon 865, a generous 8/12/16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128/256GB of UGS 3.0 storage, you should get an unmatched gaming experience on the games that support the high refresh rate in the gameplay. Nubia also claims that it is using a custom Adreno 650 GPU, but no further details could be spotted on this claimed customization.

The Nubia Red Magic 5G also comes with a decent size 4,500 mAh battery, with support for 55W charging and compatibility with Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0 and Power Delivery 3.0. The camera setup on the phone comprises of the 64MP Sony IMX 686, a wide-angle camera and a macro camera, along with an 8MP front camera. Gaming smartphones are not exactly known to be great camera performers, and despite a good primary sensor, we aren’t expecting a whole lot over here either.

The Nubia Red Magic 5G also has a few other features, like a 3.5mm headphone jack, WiFi 6 support, and Dual-Frequency GPS. Nubia also talked about low latency game screencasting support on the phone, but we could not locate proper explanations on how they manage to achieve the same. The phone runs on Red Magic OS based on Android 10, and has a bunch of gaming-related optimizations.

To spice things up a bit, Nubia is also selling a Transparent Edition of the Red Magic 5G. It isn’t immediately clear if the back of the phone is a re-imagined graphic vinyl on the body or actually transparent. Nubia showed a video of the fan visibly spinning through the back glass, so it would appear at least that area is truly transparent. Or it was just a marketing stunt.

Pricing and Availability

The Nubia Red Magic 5G goes on sale in China on 12th March 2020 and globally in April. The following combinations will be available:

• 8GB + 128GB: CNY 3799
• 12GB + 128GB: CNY 4099
• 12GB + 256GB: CNY 4399
• 16GB + 256GB: CNY 4999

The Transparent Edition comes in the following variants:

• 12GB + 256GB: CNY 4599
• 16GB + 256GB: CNY 5199

The post Nubia Red Magic 5G is a gaming phone with a 144Hz display, active cooling fan, and more appeared first on xda-developers.

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Nubia Red Magic 5G is a gaming phone with a 144Hz display, active cooling fan, and more

Gaming smartphones have risen the ranks in recent years, banking upon their overkill specifications to deliver some amazing smartphone performance. While gaming smartphones may not provide the best overall smartphone experience, they do have their own niche set up that they’re filling quite nicely. Nubia entered the gaming smartphone genre with the Red Magic and followed it up with the Red Magic Mars, Red Magic 3, and Red Magic 3S. For 2020, Nubia is looking to create a few “firsts” in the gaming smartphone genre with the launch of their new gaming flagship, the Nubia Red Magic 5G. It’s the company’s first 5G device, the first smartphone on the market with a 144Hz refresh rate display, and a few other cool tricks up its proverbial sleeve.

Nubia Red Magic 5G: Specifications

Specification	Nubia Red Magic 5G
Dimensions and Weight	168.56 x 78 x 9.75 mm 218g
Display	6.65″ FHD+ AMOLED; 19.5:9 aspect ratio 144Hz high refresh rate 240Hz touch sampling rate In-display fingerprint sensor
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Adreno 650
RAM and Storage	8GB LPDDR5 + 128GB UFS 3.0 12GB + 128GB 12GB + 256GB 16GB + 256GB
Battery & Charging	4,500 mAh battery 55W fast charging Compatible with Quick Charge 4.0 and Power Delivery 3.0
Rear Camera	Primary: 64MP Sony IMX686 sensor, f/1.8 Secondary: 8MP, Wide-Angle Camera Tertiary: 2MP, Macro
Front Camera	8MP
Other Features	Active cooling through rotating fan within the phone 3.5mm headphone jack Low latency game screencasting Touch-sensitive shoulder buttons WiFi 6 Dual-frequency GPS Side pins for further docking
Android Version	Red Magic OS based on Android 10

The Nubia Red Magic 5G stands out from the crowd of boring glass slab phones with a new design aesthetic that practically screams “gaming phone”.

The design language is quite unique. Nubia has also used distinct color combinations, so there is no mistaking this phone for anything else in the market right now. The back of the phone has a lot going on, with a big X lending the phone some character. The Red Magic logo has RGB LEDs underneath because everything gaming needs RGB. On the sides, the right edge of the phone has the volume rocker, the power button, as well as two shoulder buttons to aid in gaming. These buttons appear to be touch-sensitive buttons, but there are mentions of “two-step actuation” which we are unable to explain as they could possibly be an error in our translation. Much like other previous Nubia gaming phones, the Red Magic 5G also has an active cooling solution, coming in the form of a fan within the phone. The exit vent is on the right edge, while the entry vent for air is on the other end. The left edge of the phone also has 7-pogo pins for connecting to an external dock that can charge the phone and provide ethernet connectivity for a much better and stable internet connection. It also has a slider button for one-push switching into “Gaming Mode” on the phone.

The front of the Nubia Red Magic 5G goes old school with the design, with the front camera integrated within the top thin bezel. What it doesn’t go old school with is the actual phone display, as the phone is the first Android gaming smartphone with a crazy 144Hz high refresh rate. This means that the phone is theoretically better than current 120Hz display options, and is no comparison for phones that launch with 60Hz. Coupled with the 240Hz touch sampling rate, Snapdragon 865, a generous 8/12/16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128/256GB of UGS 3.0 storage, you should get an unmatched gaming experience on the games that support the high refresh rate in the gameplay. Nubia also claims that it is using a custom Adreno 650 GPU, but no further details could be spotted on this claimed customization.

The Nubia Red Magic 5G also comes with a decent size 4,500 mAh battery, with support for 55W charging and compatibility with Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0 and Power Delivery 3.0. The camera setup on the phone comprises of the 64MP Sony IMX 686, a wide-angle camera and a macro camera, along with an 8MP front camera. Gaming smartphones are not exactly known to be great camera performers, and despite a good primary sensor, we aren’t expecting a whole lot over here either.

The Nubia Red Magic 5G also has a few other features, like a 3.5mm headphone jack, WiFi 6 support, and Dual-Frequency GPS. Nubia also talked about low latency game screencasting support on the phone, but we could not locate proper explanations on how they manage to achieve the same. The phone runs on Red Magic OS based on Android 10, and has a bunch of gaming-related optimizations.

To spice things up a bit, Nubia is also selling a Transparent Edition of the Red Magic 5G. It isn’t immediately clear if the back of the phone is a re-imagined graphic vinyl on the body or actually transparent. Nubia showed a video of the fan visibly spinning through the back glass, so it would appear at least that area is truly transparent. Or it was just a marketing stunt.

Pricing and Availability

The Nubia Red Magic 5G goes on sale in China on 12th March 2020 and globally in April. The following combinations will be available:

• 8GB + 128GB: CNY 3799
• 12GB + 128GB: CNY 4099
• 12GB + 256GB: CNY 4399
• 16GB + 256GB: CNY 4999

The Transparent Edition comes in the following variants:

• 12GB + 256GB: CNY 4599
• 16GB + 256GB: CNY 5199

The post Nubia Red Magic 5G is a gaming phone with a 144Hz display, active cooling fan, and more appeared first on xda-developers.

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OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro get their first Open Beta builds with Live Caption support

Unlike the regular OnePlus 7 series, the OnePlus 7T lineup runs Android 10 based OxygenOS 10 out of the box. As a result, owners of these phones missed out on the thrill of running a new version of Android via the Open Beta channel till date. The Chinese OEM does prefer to test run new software features through this branch before broad scale public rollout. Following the pattern, the company is now bringing February 2020 security patches and several improvements for OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro in the form of an Open Beta update, the first one for these phones.

OnePlus 7T XDA Forums || Buy OnePlus 7T from Amazon.in

OnePlus 7T Pro XDA Forums || Buy OnePlus 7T Pro from Amazon.in

Back in December, OnePlus recruited 250 volunteers to evaluate the closed beta of OxygenOS for the OnePlus 7T series. The long development phase certainly pays off, as OnePlus enabled (then) Google Pixel 4-exclusive Live Caption feature in this build. While it is possible to access the functionality on non-Pixel phones running Android 10 with some modding, older OxygenOS 10 builds reportedly were not compatible with the tactics. Now that the native support has been materialized inside OxygenOS codebase, legacy OnePlus phones should hopefully also get the feature soon.

Here is the complete changelog for the OxygenOS Open Beta 1 update for the OnePlus 7T/7T Pro:

• System
  • Optimized RAM management
  • Enhanced single and double-tap performance of Ambient display and lock screen
  • Improved content now live on settings page
  • Updated Android Security patch to 2020.02
• Live Caption
  • Added live caption feature, this will detect speech in media and automatically generates captions (to enable: Settings-System-AccessibIlity-Live Caption)
• Phone
  • Enhanced the contact details screen
• Gallery
  • Fixed the audio and video issues with preloading videos

This is the inaugural Open Beta build for the phone duo, so OnePlus has posted the full update packages on their official support site as well as the announcement thread. You can grab the phone-specific zip file and use the Local upgrade method to switch from the stable channel to Open Beta. Although internal data will not be purged in this process, reverting back to the stable builds will lead to a wipe, so do perform a backup beforehand.

On another note, OnePlus continues their tradition to deliver India-specific builds. Interestingly, those are not mentioned in the announcement post, but can be downloaded from the regional support page. You can also find them linked below. Note that these builds are only for the OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro, and not for the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro.

OnePlus 7T

Open Beta 1 Full OTA:

• Global/EU
• India

Rollback packages for shifting from Open Beta to Stable branch:

• Global
• EU
• India

OnePlus 7 Pro

Open Beta 1 Full OTA:

• Global/EU (1, 2)*
• India

Rollback packages for shifting from Open Beta to Stable branch:

• Global
• EU
• India

* OnePlus has published two different packages. The first one can be found in the announcement thread, while the other one is downloadable through the support page.

---

Source: OnePlus Forums, OnePlus Support Pages (1), (2)

The post OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro get their first Open Beta builds with Live Caption support appeared first on xda-developers.

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[Update: Available in Red] Samsung Galaxy Buds+ announced with 11 hours battery life, better microphones, and more

Update (3/12/20 @ 9:30 AM ET): The Samsung Galaxy Buds+ are now available in red in the US.

For a while now, Samsung has been rumored to release a new pair of Galaxy Buds called the Galaxy Buds+. They were supposed to have better sound quality, better battery, better microphones, and the same design. At Samsung Unpacked today, Samsung has confirmed these earbuds, in fact, do exist with the amazing price tag of $149.99.

Samsung did a lot of work on these new earbuds to keep the design and style of the original Galaxy Buds while improving them in every way. The actual size of the earbuds stays the same with the buds coming in at 17.5 x 19.2 x 22.5mm. In this same size, they were able to fit an 85mAh battery. This is up from the 58mAh battery in the original Galaxy Buds. The case does get a small battery size increase, going from 252mAh to 270mAh.

Even though these battery capacities aren’t much larger, Samsung has done some magic with the earbuds to almost double the battery life. They will now last for 11 hours of constant playtime on a single charge with another 11 hours if you charge them in the case. The call time on the earbuds was also increased as well, going from 5 hours to 7.5 hours. The buds also support fast charging in the case. A good 3 minutes of charge time equals 60 minutes of audio playback.

Another major upgrade Samsung implemented with the Galaxy Buds+ is connectivity. These new earbuds allow you to connect to multiple devices at the same time! You won’t be able to play music out of multiple devices at the same time, but I’m not sure why would want to. Along with a multi-device connection, Samsung will also be adding a couple of new modes and commands to the Galaxy Buds. The first is a second touchpad. You will be able to touch the outer ring around the buds to control the volume on them. Samsung will also be adding a new gaming mode and Spotify command. The gaming mode will lower the audio quality but decrease the latency. This is very good for gaming. The Spotify command will let you hold onto the side touchpad to start playing music without taking your phone out.

As for audio quality, Samsung has made the already great audio quality on the original Galaxy Buds even better. They have switched to a dual driver system. Each bud will now have 1 woofer and 1 tweeter. This should make audio quality all-around much better, but we’ll have to test the buds to verify this. As for microphone quality, Samsung has added another microphone to the outside of the buds. This should help the not great microphone quality on the original Galaxy Buds.

These earbuds, unfortunately, do not have active noise cancellation. Instead, they have very good noise isolation and something Samsung calls “Ambient Aware.” The noise isolation on the Galaxy Buds was good enough that I would say it’s about on the same level as the active noise cancellation on the AirPods Pro. As for Ambient Aware, it’s a feature that allows for audio pass-through from the microphones into the buds. This is really helpful while talking to someone or trying to not get hit by a car while walking around.

The Galaxy Buds+ will be available starting on February 14th, the same day as the Galaxy Z Flip. You will be able to pick them up in Cosmic Black, Cosmic Blue, White, and Red. They will come in at $149. This is only $20 more than the Galaxy Buds. For such huge upgrades, the difference in price is astounding. People who pre-order the Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra will get the Buds+ for free.

---

Update: Available in Red

Samsung recently launched two new colors for the Galaxy Buds+, but they were only available in South Korea. Now, the company has made the red Galaxy Buds+ available in the US as well. The new red color can be purchased right now from Samsung’s website for $149.99. They are marked to ship by March 20th.

Via: The Verge

The post [Update: Available in Red] Samsung Galaxy Buds+ announced with 11 hours battery life, better microphones, and more appeared first on xda-developers.

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OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro get their first Open Beta builds with Live Caption support

Unlike the regular OnePlus 7 series, the OnePlus 7T lineup runs Android 10 based OxygenOS 10 out of the box. As a result, owners of these phones missed out on the thrill of running a new version of Android via the Open Beta channel till date. The Chinese OEM does prefer to test run new software features through this branch before broad scale public rollout. Following the pattern, the company is now bringing February 2020 security patches and several improvements for OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro in the form of an Open Beta update, the first one for these phones.

OnePlus 7T XDA Forums || Buy OnePlus 7T from Amazon.in

OnePlus 7T Pro XDA Forums || Buy OnePlus 7T Pro from Amazon.in

Back in December, OnePlus recruited 250 volunteers to evaluate the closed beta of OxygenOS for the OnePlus 7T series. The long development phase certainly pays off, as OnePlus enabled (then) Google Pixel 4-exclusive Live Caption feature in this build. While it is possible to access the functionality on non-Pixel phones running Android 10 with some modding, older OxygenOS 10 builds reportedly were not compatible with the tactics. Now that the native support has been materialized inside OxygenOS codebase, legacy OnePlus phones should hopefully also get the feature soon.

Here is the complete changelog for the OxygenOS Open Beta 1 update for the OnePlus 7T/7T Pro:

• System
  • Optimized RAM management
  • Enhanced single and double-tap performance of Ambient display and lock screen
  • Improved content now live on settings page
  • Updated Android Security patch to 2020.02
• Live Caption
  • Added live caption feature, this will detect speech in media and automatically generates captions (to enable: Settings-System-AccessibIlity-Live Caption)
• Phone
  • Enhanced the contact details screen
• Gallery
  • Fixed the audio and video issues with preloading videos

This is the inaugural Open Beta build for the phone duo, so OnePlus has posted the full update packages on their official support site as well as the announcement thread. You can grab the phone-specific zip file and use the Local upgrade method to switch from the stable channel to Open Beta. Although internal data will not be purged in this process, reverting back to the stable builds will lead to a wipe, so do perform a backup beforehand.

On another note, OnePlus continues their tradition to deliver India-specific builds. Interestingly, those are not mentioned in the announcement post, but can be downloaded from the regional support page. You can also find them linked below. Note that these builds are only for the OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro, and not for the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro.

OnePlus 7T

Open Beta 1 Full OTA:

• Global/EU
• India

Rollback packages for shifting from Open Beta to Stable branch:

• Global
• EU
• India

OnePlus 7 Pro

Open Beta 1 Full OTA:

• Global/EU (1, 2)*
• India

Rollback packages for shifting from Open Beta to Stable branch:

• Global
• EU
• India

* OnePlus has published two different packages. The first one can be found in the announcement thread, while the other one is downloadable through the support page.

---

Source: OnePlus Forums, OnePlus Support Pages (1), (2)

The post OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro get their first Open Beta builds with Live Caption support appeared first on xda-developers.

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via IFTTT

[Update: Available in Red] Samsung Galaxy Buds+ announced with 11 hours battery life, better microphones, and more

Update (3/12/20 @ 9:30 AM ET): The Samsung Galaxy Buds+ are now available in red in the US.

For a while now, Samsung has been rumored to release a new pair of Galaxy Buds called the Galaxy Buds+. They were supposed to have better sound quality, better battery, better microphones, and the same design. At Samsung Unpacked today, Samsung has confirmed these earbuds, in fact, do exist with the amazing price tag of $149.99.

Samsung did a lot of work on these new earbuds to keep the design and style of the original Galaxy Buds while improving them in every way. The actual size of the earbuds stays the same with the buds coming in at 17.5 x 19.2 x 22.5mm. In this same size, they were able to fit an 85mAh battery. This is up from the 58mAh battery in the original Galaxy Buds. The case does get a small battery size increase, going from 252mAh to 270mAh.

Even though these battery capacities aren’t much larger, Samsung has done some magic with the earbuds to almost double the battery life. They will now last for 11 hours of constant playtime on a single charge with another 11 hours if you charge them in the case. The call time on the earbuds was also increased as well, going from 5 hours to 7.5 hours. The buds also support fast charging in the case. A good 3 minutes of charge time equals 60 minutes of audio playback.

Another major upgrade Samsung implemented with the Galaxy Buds+ is connectivity. These new earbuds allow you to connect to multiple devices at the same time! You won’t be able to play music out of multiple devices at the same time, but I’m not sure why would want to. Along with a multi-device connection, Samsung will also be adding a couple of new modes and commands to the Galaxy Buds. The first is a second touchpad. You will be able to touch the outer ring around the buds to control the volume on them. Samsung will also be adding a new gaming mode and Spotify command. The gaming mode will lower the audio quality but decrease the latency. This is very good for gaming. The Spotify command will let you hold onto the side touchpad to start playing music without taking your phone out.

As for audio quality, Samsung has made the already great audio quality on the original Galaxy Buds even better. They have switched to a dual driver system. Each bud will now have 1 woofer and 1 tweeter. This should make audio quality all-around much better, but we’ll have to test the buds to verify this. As for microphone quality, Samsung has added another microphone to the outside of the buds. This should help the not great microphone quality on the original Galaxy Buds.

These earbuds, unfortunately, do not have active noise cancellation. Instead, they have very good noise isolation and something Samsung calls “Ambient Aware.” The noise isolation on the Galaxy Buds was good enough that I would say it’s about on the same level as the active noise cancellation on the AirPods Pro. As for Ambient Aware, it’s a feature that allows for audio pass-through from the microphones into the buds. This is really helpful while talking to someone or trying to not get hit by a car while walking around.

The Galaxy Buds+ will be available starting on February 14th, the same day as the Galaxy Z Flip. You will be able to pick them up in Cosmic Black, Cosmic Blue, White, and Red. They will come in at $149. This is only $20 more than the Galaxy Buds. For such huge upgrades, the difference in price is astounding. People who pre-order the Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra will get the Buds+ for free.

---

Update: Available in Red

Samsung recently launched two new colors for the Galaxy Buds+, but they were only available in South Korea. Now, the company has made the red Galaxy Buds+ available in the US as well. The new red color can be purchased right now from Samsung’s website for $149.99. They are marked to ship by March 20th.

Via: The Verge

The post [Update: Available in Red] Samsung Galaxy Buds+ announced with 11 hours battery life, better microphones, and more appeared first on xda-developers.

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Google reportedly blocks Android TV makers from also using Amazon Fire TV

Google and Amazon have long been engaged in a cold war for user share. The two internet giants cross each other’s path in several product categories – TV dongles, smart speakers and smart displays, voice assistants and a host of voice-activated products, and even app stores for Android devices. The feud took an ugly turn in 2017 when Amazon and Google started dropping support for each other’s services on their devices. It’s irrelevant who started it first but last year, things seemed to ease out a bit as YouTube returned Amazon Fire TV while the Prime Video apps gained Chromecast support. However, a recent report suggests Google may have restricted TV manufacturers from using the Fire TV operating system if they were already signed up for Android TV.

Google reportedly expects smart TV manufacturers to commit to Android TV and not experiment with other alternatives like Amazon’s Fire TV interface. Protocol reports that among the conditions that a smart TV manufacturer has to agree for an Android TV license, one condition also prevents them from engaging in the making other smart TVs that use forks of open-source Android, including Amazon Fire TV. A major TV manufacturer’s senior employee told Protocol, a company “cannot do Android TV and Fire TV simultaneously.“.

Notably, Android TV is not open-sourced and runs a customized version of the launcher and Play Store along with other Google apps that are optimized for large-screen experiences.

Homescreens of Android TV and Amazon Fire TV 

In the Android Compatibility Definition Document (CDD), Google has laid out guidelines for device manufacturers to follow along with the minimum requirements they’re required to meet if they want Play Store and other Google apps to be accessible on the device. While Google allows developers and device manufacturers to customize their versions of Android by making modifications to Android’s source code, these forks must be sanctioned and verified by Google and Amazon Fire TV apparently does not make the cut for obvious reasons. The restrictions are even valid across categories and manufacturers who have agreed to the CDD for mobile devices still cannot make TVs with Fire TV interface.

Google does grant exceptions to equipment manufacturers if the devices operating on different software products are manufactured for different brands. It can also allow some leeway to those brands which sell products with variations in Android according to the region.

Google’s past troubles

Google’s CCD, formerly known as Anti-Fragmentation Agreement, has caused legal trouble for the tech giant in the past. Last year, India’s Competition Commission initiated a probe against Google on allegations that these policies prevent manufacturers from working on devices running on alternatives to Android. Similarly, the European Union had previously fined Google with €4.34 billion (approximated $4.85 billion) on the grounds that Google was “preventing manufacturers from selling smart mobile devices running on competing operating systems based on the Android open source code.”

Besides Amazon’s Fire TV, the CCD also blocks other forks of Android. Other than biggies such as Amazon, the agreement also prevents smaller manufacturers from developing their own custom versions of TV interface based on Android, if they have signed up for CCD for any other device. This ultimately prevents any significant competition from sprouting and giving absolute control over the smart TV landscape.

Whether this disclosure about Google’s binding agreement targetting and harming Amazon’s Fire TV will gain the same impetus as similar cases did in the case of Google’s monopoly in smartphone operating systems and search engines is something we’ll learn over time. For now, Google can be seen benefiting from this as it announced signing deals with six out of the top 10 smart TV manufacturers and 140 cable TV operators around the globe.

The post Google reportedly blocks Android TV makers from also using Amazon Fire TV appeared first on xda-developers.

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