Samsung Galaxy M56 5G India launch has been confirmed for April 17 and the brand has also confirmed some of the key specifications of the device. The device will be available via Amazon India for purchase and will get triple rear cameras, a slim form factor, an Exynos chipset, and more.
Samsung Galaxy M56 5G India Launch
The Galaxy M56 5G India launch was confirmed through an Amazon microsite which also showcases the design of the device in a light green shade. The design of the device looks quite similar to that of the Galaxy M16 5G where the triple rear cameras have an identical placement. Furthermore, the device is being touted to be 30% slimmer than the Galaxy M55 5G from last year.
As for the key specs, the device will be protected with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ on the front and back. There will be an sAMOLED display. The triple camera setup on the back will include a 50-megapixel f/1.8 primary sensor with 10x magnification and OIS, an 8-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide angle lens, and a 2-megapixel f/2.4 camera with a macro sensor.
The device recently appeared on Geekbench which confirmed that it will be powered by the Exynos 1480 chipset, the same Processor we saw in the last year’s Galaxy A55 5G. This will position the device below the Galaxy A56 5G but above the Galaxy A36 5G.
Aside from that, more details about the device including its pricing should be revealed next week at the time of launch.
In related news to the brand, it has been suggested that Samsung will debut the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 with One UI 8 out of the box. Google is expected to debut Android 16 in June which is again months earlier than the usual schedule and Samsung’s plans to debut the next One UI version earlier than its regular timeframe could be to match Google’s new timeline for Android updates.
Motorola is all set to debut a trio of new products next week and while one of them is already confirmed to be the Motorola Edge 60 Stylus, the other two will be the Moto Pad 60 Pro tablet and the Moto Book 60 laptop. The key specifications as well as the design of these laptops have been confirmed through a Flipkart listing ahead of the April 17 launch.
Moto Pad 60 Pro: Key Specs
The Flipkart listing confirms that the Moto Pad 60 Pro is equipped with a 12.7-inch LCD screen with a 3K Resolution and 144Hz refresh rate. It will be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8300 chipset and will be backed by a 10,200mAh battery that will charge at 45W speeds.
The tablet will ship with Android 15 out of the box. Furthermore, the device includes a quad-speaker system tuned by JBL and the brand will also bundle the Moto Pen Pro stylus in the box.
Moto Book 60: Key Specs
The Moto Book 60 will weigh 1.4kg. It sports a 14-inch OLED panel with 2.8K resolution and 500 nits peak brightness. Under the hood, it will draw power from an Intel Core 7 processor.
The laptop is backed by a 60Wh battery and supports 60W charging via USB-C. For audio, you’ll get dual stereo speakers enhanced with Dolby Atmos. It will be available in two colour options—Wedge Wood and Bronze Green as per the lsiting.
As for the other launch, which will be the Edge 60 Stylus on April 15, the device’s key specs have also been confirmed. The handset will sport a 6.7″ pOLED display with a 120Hz Refresh Rate and will be powered by the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chip. It’ll get 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage.
The optics on the back will include a 50MP Sony LYT-700C primary sensor and a 13MP secondary sensor that should likely be an ultra-wide angle lens. There’ll be a 32MP sensor on the front for selfies and video calls. It will be backed up by a 5000mAh battery with 68W fast wired charging and 15W wireless charging.
Redmi A5 India launch has been confirmed to take place next week on April 15. The device has already debuted in the global markets giving us an idea of what to expect from the handset. The colour options for the Indian version have also been confirmed. Here’s everything to know about the device.
Redmi A5 India Launch: Price Range Confirmed
Redmi A5 India launch was confirmed through Flipkart where it states that the device will be available in three colour optione including Jaisalmer Gold, Pondicherry Blue and Just Black colour options. Further, the microsite also confirmed that the Redmi A5 will pack the segment’s largest and smoothest display. The handset also gets a 120Hz refresh rate and TUV Rheinland certification for eye comfort.
The price range for the handset is referred to under Rs 10,000. Further, the Redmi phone will pack a 5,200mAh battery, however, the fast charging details haven’t been revealed yet.
Redmi A5: Specifications
By the looks of it, the Redmi A5 could be a rebranded Poco C71 in India. However, the Redmi A5 has already debuted in the global markets. Redmi A5 spece include a 6.88-inch IPS LCD Dot Drop display with an HD+ resolution, up to 120Hz refresh rate, up to 240Hz touch sampling rate, and a 260 ppi. There is a waterdrop notch at the top for the front camera.
Under the hood, the phone packs a Unisoc T7250 SoC. It is paired with up to 6GB of LPDDR4x RAM and up to 128GB of eMMC 5.1 internal storage which is expandable up to 2TB. There is a 5200mAh battery with 15W Fast charging support.
For optics, the the device comes with a 32MP f/1.75 primary rear camera paired with an unspecified sensor, along with an 8MP f/2.0 front camera. For biometrics, the phone has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. It runs on Android 15-based HyperOS out of the box. There’s a single speaker at the bottom.
iQOO started off the year well with the Neo 10R 5G, which matched our expectations in our review. Now, the company has gone one segment down for its new launch dubbed the iQOO Z10 series. Out of the two new devices, here’s our review of the iQOO Z10 5G after extensive use to help you find out whether it’s worth the starting price of Rs 21,999.
Design and Display
The design of the iQOO Z10 5G departs from the usual one iQOO has opted for in the past few months. The camera module now looks similar to what we have seen from other brands, where a single circular module houses all the sensors.
The device is entirely made of polycarbonate, but it doesn’t feel cheap in the hand. Even though it packs a huge battery, it doesn’t feel heavy in the hand, and the weight distribution has been handled well.
The buttons feel tactile, and the back panel has a matte and glittery finish for the black shade we got. The back panel and frame are curved, but the in-hand grip is not bad at all.
The device has a single speaker at the bottom which is loud enough but lacks depth. Further, the Haptics are below average as the device uses the regular motor. In comparison, the haptics on the Nothing Phone (3a) are far better and stronger. The device is also IP65 rated for water and dust resistance.
Aside from that, the overall design of the device looks appealing.
The display on the front is a 6.77-inch quad-curved AMOLED Display with a 120 Hz refresh rate, a full-HD+ Resolution of 2392 x 1080 pixels, 387 ppi, up to 5000 nits local peak brightness, 1300 nits HBM value, and a P3 colour gamut. We appreciate iQOO for equipping the device with a quad-curved panel at this price point and it is quite a decent panel in daily use as well. The bezels aren’t even on all sides, but are still thin enough. Because it is a quad curved panel, it also looks aesthetically pleasing.
While the brightness in outdoor conditions could be better, it’s sharp and vivid and watching content on this display was a treat. The colours are handled well and are vibrant. The display is also responsive to the touch in games and with a 120 Hz refresh rate, smoothness isn’t an issue at all. However, apps like Netflix do not support HDR.
The in-display optical fingerprint sensor works as it should without any quirks. It’s quick as well as accurate in detecting the fingerprints.
Software and Performance
The iQOO Z10 5G is powered by the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 Chipset paired with up to 12GB LPDDR4x RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage. The device’s RAM management is impressive, and so was its overall performance. While I could easily spot some delays while opening apps, the overall experience remained fluid without any major lags.
Switching through apps was a breeze, and the handset’s gaming performance with casual games like RL sideswipe was impressive. However, due to hardware limitations, the device can’t handle more demanding titles like Call of Duty at the maximum possible graphics, but that’s acceptable at this price point.
Aside from that, there are some design elements of FunTouch OS 15 that I am not a fan of, such as the compact notification grouping from the same App in the notification panel, the design of the quick settings panel, and some animation inconsistencies. There’s also some bloatware, including the V-Appstore, iQOO’s own browser, etc., which can’t even be disabled. Some pre-installed games and apps like Facebook can be uninstalled, though.
The iQOO Z10 5G offers a good number of features, including app lock, animation customisation, app cloner, ultra game mode, system theming, various gestures, and a good number of lock screen clock styles and AOD clock styles.
Speaking of the Always-on display, it turned out to be a disappointment as you can’t keep it turned ON at all times, even though the device employs an AMOLED panel. You can only turn it on using one of two ways: either pick your phone or tap the display to see it, or move your phone slightly to make it appear.
FunTouch OS is definitely not on my list of favourite Android OS skins, and omissions like these further sour the experience. We hope iQOO is planning to revamp the software experience of its devices soon, as brands like Samsung, Nothing, OnePlus, and Oppo are far ahead in the software space.
The handset’s connectivity performance remained optimal. The device was running the March 2025 security patch out of the box, which is acceptable.
Battery and Charging
The iQOO Z10 5G packs a rather large Li-Ion battery cell with a 7300mAh capacity and 90W Fast charging support. As large as it seems on paper, the performance is even more insane in real-world use. The device challenges you to kill it in a day, and you’d mostly lose that challenge because the backup the device gives is par excellence.
To push it to its limits, I did 120fps gaming on the device with the highest touch sampling rate, yet I still couldn’t kill it in a day. The device consistently gave me unbelievable numbers. It lasted me 1 day and 15 hours with slightly over 8 hours of screen-on time, out of which about 6 hours accounts for gaming which is beyond outstanding.
With moderate use, such as tasks like scrolling through social media, chatting on WhatsApp, calling, listening to music, streaming videos, browsing the web, etc., you can even get up to 3 days of backup. With such use, I could easily surpass the 10-hour mark in terms of screen-on time and around 2 days of backup.
Words aren’t enough to describe how amazing this battery is and how well the system has been optimised to make use of it. iQOO has also provided some features to extend the longevity of the battery, such as charging limit, ability to see battery health, etc.
There has been no flagship or a mid-ranger smartphone that has been able to provide such results in battery usage in my experience of reviewing smartphones for the past few years and it has impressed me a lot.
Cameras
The iQOO Z10 5G houses a dual-rear camera setup, including a 50-megapixel f/1.8 primary sensor with OIS and a 2-megapixel f/2.4 depth sensor. There’s a 32-megapixel f/2.0 sensor on the front.
The photos from the primary sensor are surprisingly good, both in terms of colours and detailing. Give the sensor enough light and you’d get a satisfactory shot. The colours reside on the natural end of the spectrum, which those who want vivid shots may not prefer. Even if you zoom into the shot, it doesn’t lose out on details, which is good. The dynamic range in the photo is also quite impressive and even the shutter lag is well-contained.
Further, portrait shots also look good, but they do miss out on some details if you go pixel-peeping. However, the bokeh effect looks natural, and EDGE detection stays accurate and sharp.
Photos under artificial lighting are not compromised on detailing or colours. The shot maintains its sharpness and looks great.
For shots in low light, the camera struggles to focus on the subject, and there’s hardly any detailing, but once you turn on night mode, things do get better to some extent.
2x zoom10x zoom
The device can zoom in at up to 10x, but at that magnification, the shots are barely usable. At 2x, the colours look fine, but the detailing does take a hit. However, the shots are still acceptable.
Speaking of selfies, the front-facing camera shoots satisfactory photos outdoors. The skin tones are handled well while the details in the shot are also on point. However, once the background gets too bright and HDR kicks in, the details of the subject start to fade away and the photos begin to look soft.
Oppo Find X8 Ultra has been announced in China as the most powerful device from the brand this year. The device comes backed by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Chipset paired with a 6100mAh battery, 100W fast wired charging, and much more. Oppo also announced the Find X8s series alongside the Ultra model.
Oppo Find X8 Ultra: Price, Specs
The Oppo Find X8 Ultra starts at CNY 6,499 (approx Rs 76,275) for the base 12GB + 256GB model. It comes in black, white, and pink shades.
The Oppo handset sports a 6.82-inch QHD (1440 x 3168 pixels) AMOLED LTPO display with 510ppi Pixel density, 2500 nits peak brightness, up to 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, and up to 240Hz touch sampling rate. The device is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC, coupled with up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB of UFS 4.0 in-built storage. It runs on ColorOS 15 based on Android 15.
On the back, there’s a quad-camera setup, including a 50MP primary camera with a 1-inch Sony LYT-900 sensor, OIS, 10-bit HDR, paired with a 50MP 120-degree Samsung JN5 ultra-wide angle camera, 50MP 1/1.56″ Sony LYT-700 sensor, 3X periscope telephoto camera, and a 50MP Sony LYT-600 6x periscope telephoto camera with OIS, and up to 120X digital zoom. Plus there’s also a 2MP spectral color sensor on the back. At the front, there’s a 32MP Sony IMX809 front-facing sensor for selfies.
The Oppo Find X8 Ultra packs a 6100mAh battery with 100W wired charging and 50W wireless charging. Connectivity options will include 5G SA/NSA, Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be), Bluetooth v5.4, GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, dual-antenna NFC, and a USB Type-C port for charging. It will be IP68 + IP69 rated and will have stereo speakers and an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor.
Oppo Find X8s Series: Price, Specs
Both Find X8s phones start at CNY 4,199 (approx Rs 49,290) for the 12/256GB trim and max out at CNY 5,499 (approx Rs 64,600) for the 16GB RAM and 1TB storage version.
Oppo Find X8s is available in Hoshino Black, Moonlight White, Island Blue, and Cherry Blossom Pink. Oppo Find X8s+ can be bought in Hoshino Black, Moonlight White, and Hyacinth Purple.
The devices have a have a 1.5K Resolution (2760 × 1256 pixels) 120Hz adaptive refresh rate AMOLED Display with up to 1600 nits peak brightness, 2160Hz high-frequency PWM dimming, 240Hz touch sampling rate, 2160Hz instant touch sampling rate, Dolby Vision, OPPO Crystal Shield protection. The Find X8s+ has a 6.59-inch display while the Find X8s gets a 6.32-inch panel.
The devices are powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ 3nm SoC with Immortalis-G925 GPU, paired with up 16GB LPDDR5x RAM and up to 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage. For optics, they pack triple rear cameras including a 50MP primary camera with OIS, 10-bit HDR, along with a 50MP 120° ultra-wide angle camera and a 50MP 3X periscope telephoto camera with OIS and up to 120X digital zoom. There is a 32MP camera on the front.
The Find X8s packs a 5700mAh battery while the Find X8s+ will pack a 6000mAh battery. The two support 80W fast wired charging and 50W wireless charging. Other features will include 5G, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth v5.4, GPS, NFC, and a USB-C port for charging. Additional features include IP68 + IP69 ratings, stereo speakers, and an in-display optical fingerprint sensor.
Vivo V50e 5G has been announced in India as the brand’s latest V-series device that comes with Sony Multifocal Pro Portrait Camera system and a 50MP Eye-AF Group Selfie camera. It further sports a quad-curved display along with up to 256GB storage, a 5600mAh battery, and more.
Vivo V50e 5G: Price, Availability, Offers
The vivo V50e will be priced at Rs 28,999 for the 8GB + 128GB variant and Rs 30,999 for the 8GB + 256GB variant. It will go on sale starting April 17 on the vivo official website, Flipkart, Amazon, and all partner retail stores in Sapphire Blue and Pearl White shades. Consumers can pre-book the V50e starting today at vivo exclusive stores and partner retail stores. As for the offers available, they are as follows:
Online Offers
Up to 10% Instant Discount with HDFC Bank and SBI Card transactions
Up to 10% Exchange Bonus when you trade in your old smartphone
Get vivo TWS earbuds at a special bundled price of Rs 1,499, on the purchase of vivo V50e
Offline Offers
Up to 10% Instant Bank Cashback with SBI, HSBC, Amex, DBS, IDFC, Kotak & more banks. Pls check Brand EMI status on PoS before transacting.
9 Months ZERO Down Payment finance option for easy ownership
Get Up to 40% discount on vivo V-Shield Screen Damage Protection Plan.
Get Up to 10% exchange bonus through “Servify” & “Cashify
Up to 70% Assured Buyback offer at ~30% discount at Rs.499
Free Premium Access to 10 OTT Apps for 2 months with Jio (applicable on Rs 1199 prepaid plan)
Get vivo TWS earbuds at a special bundled price of Rs 1,499, on the purchase of vivo V50e
Vivo V50e 5G: Specifications
Vivo V50e 5G sports a 6.77” curved AMOLED panel with a 120 Hz refresh rate, FHD+ resolution of 2392 x 1080 pixels, 1800 Nits of local peak brightness, P3 colour gamut, and 387 ppi. Under the hood, it packs the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor, paired with 8GB LPDDR4x RAM and 128GB or 256GB UFS 2.2 storage options.
For optics, the Vivo V50e 5G features a 50MP f/1.79 Sony IMX882 main sensor joined by an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle lens. Up front, you get a 50MP f/2.0 selfie camera for selfies and video calls. The device packs a 5600mAh battery with 90W charging speeds.
The handset runs on FunTouch OS 15 based on Android 15 and also gets stereo speakers. There’s an in-display optical fingerprint sensor for biometrics and the device is IP68 + IP69 rated. Connectivity options on the handset include dual SIM, 5G, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth v5.4, GPS, and a USB-C port.
Lumio, the startup under Circuit House Technologies founded by former Xiaomi and Flipkart veterans, has announced its first two products for the Indian TV market, including the Lumio Vision 9 and Lumio Vision 7. The Vision 9 is QD-MiniLED Smart TV while the Vision 7 is a QLED TV. They are claimed to be the “fastest Smart TVs in India.”
Lumio Vision 9, Vision 7: Price, Availability
The Lumio Vision TVs will be available for pre-order on Amazon starting April 23, 2025, with pricing details as follows:
Lumio Vision 7 (43): Rs 29,999
Lumio Vision 7 (50): Rs 34,999
Lumio Vision 7 (55): Rs 39,999
Lumio Vision 9 (55): Rs 59,999
For all the pre-order customers between April 23 to 30th, Lumio will provide a 3-year warranty (2-year comprehensive warranty + 1-year extended warranty) for both Lumio Vision 7 and Lumio Vision 9. For those who purchase after the pre-order period ends, Lumio will provide 2 years of comprehensive warranty for both models.
With 300+ service centers covering 19,000+ PIN codes, Lumio offers pan-India after-sales services.
Lumio Vision 9, Vision 7: Features
Both series are powered by the Flagship Boss Processor, 3GB DDR4 RAM, and DOPE Display engine, tuned for accurate color reproduction. The TVs are touted to have more than 100% color coverage and Premium QLED Technology. The Vision 9 packs 1920 Blue Mini-LEDs with quantum dot enhancement layer and supports up to 900 nits peak brightness. There’s 111% DCI-P3 coverage, 81% Rec 2020 along with Delta E 1.71. It is available in a single 55-inch screen size.
The Vision 7 on the other hand supports up to 400 nits peak brightness. There’s 114% DCI-P3 coverage, 83% Rec 2020 along with Delta E 1.08. It is available in three sizes including 43-inch, 50-inch, and 55-inch. Both Lumio Vision 7 and Vision 9 feature Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, DGS Audio with a Quad Speaker System, built with up to 150% more speaker cavity. Connectivity is handled with 3 HDMI ports (48Gbps bandwidth, one e-ARC), 3 USB ports, Optical Audio Out, and High-Speed Wi-Fi on both series, along with 16GB of storage on the Vision 7 and 32GB of storage on the Vision 9.
Lumio says its TVs undergoes 60+ stringent quality tests tailored to India’s diverse conditions—dust, humidity, power fluctuations, and more—ensuring durability and longevity at the Dixon manufacturing plant.
The TVs come with a new TLDR app. TLDR puts everything you need at your fingertips—live matches, schedules, results, tournament standings, highlights, and post-match analysis—all wrapped in an easy-to-navigate interface. Startimg off with comprehensive coverage of Cricket and Football, TLDR is set to expand with more sports in the months ahead.
Further, TLDR integrates YouTube. One can instantly access Trending Playlists, fresh releases, and their own YouTube Playlists right from the TLDR Music section. The Minion Remote comes with a dedicated quick shortcut key with TLDR button. This remote also comes with all relevant keys to account for a complete experience.
Lumio Vision TVs comes with Google TV, offering 400,000+ movies and TV shows across 10,000+ apps. Google Cast, Virtual Remote is also available from Google TV. You can set your Google Photos Album as ScreenSaver on Google TV. Google’s Gemini integration makes interacting with your Google TV more intuitive, with helpful features like AI summaries of movies, Custom AI Wallpaper etc.
Google has announced a new feature for Workspace users called Google Workspace Flows that is designed to automate multi-step processes using AI that can actually research, analyze, and generate content for you. Aside from that, there are new audio capabilities in Google Docs, new Google Sheets enhancements, and more.
Google Workspace Flows uses Gems — custom AI agents you can build using Gemini — to handle specialized tasks. “Need help checking if marketing copy fits your brand voice? Want help reviewing policy documents before approving a request? Need to intelligently sort customer support tickets? Workspace Flows can refer to your files in Google Drive for context and then use custom-trained Gems to take the right next steps,” said Google in a blog post.
Google also shared an example showing how Workspace Flows uses a custom Gem to handle a customer support request in the demo below. Flows reviews the incoming form, figures out the core issue, researches potential solutions, drafts a helpful reply, and flags it for the support team to review and send. “It’s about streamlining entire processes, not just single steps.”
One can simply describe what they need in plain language and Workspace Flows will design and build sophisticated, logic-driven flows — no complex coding or configuration needed. Google added that it is also working with partners to connect Workspace Flows to other third-party tools users rely on, enabling it to support workflows beyond Workspace. Workspace Flows is starting to roll out to customers in our alpha program now.
Next, Google is bringing audio capabilities directly into Google Docs. Soon, you’ll be able to create full audio versions of your documents or choose podcast-style overviews for the key highlights.These audio experiences will be available in alpha in the coming weeks.
Another new Docs feature is “Help me refine” where instead of just rewriting sentences, it offers thoughtful suggestions on how to strengthen your argument, improve the structure of your piece, or make your key points clearer in a Google docs file. It can also help with formatting consistency. Help me refine in Docs will be available in alpha later this quarter.
Next, Google is also releasing “Help me analyze” in Sheets as an on-demand analyst that provides guidance to get you started, points out interesting trends you might have missed, suggests next steps for digging deeper, and creates clear, interactive charts. Help me analyze is coming to Sheets later this year.
In addition, Google announced that soon, you’ll be able to generate high-quality, original video clips directly within Vids, powered by its advanced Veo 2 model.
Then, Gemini in Meet will soon be becoming your personal in-meeting advisor. Gemini can help you recall what you may have missed in a Meets call, generate summaries, and more. These capabilities help you stay up-to-speed, understand the conversation, and contribute effectively and will be generally available in Meet later this quarter.
Google is also integrating Gemini in Google Chats. Simply type @gemini in any Chat conversation, and it can provide a detailed summary, highlighting open questions, key decisions, and next steps. This will be available in Labs in the coming weeks.
Google also reiterates that when Gemini is used in Workspace and in the app, the data generated is not reviewed by humans, it isn’t used to train Gemini models outside of your domain without your permission, and it’s never sold or used by external parties.
Starting today, users will also gain more control with data residency options, allowing them to restrict where Gemini processes their data (like keeping it within the US or EU) to help meet regulations such as GDPR and ITAR.
OnePlus has announced the release of Android 16 Beta 2 for OnePlus 13 making it the first non-Pixel device to support the new operating system version. Beta 2 of Android 16 was released by Google a couple of months back while Android 16 is expected to go official in June this year. Here’s everything you’d want to know about the development.
OnePlus clearly states that Android 16 Beta 2 for OnePlus 13 is intended for developers and advanced users. That’s because the version isn’t stable for daily use and there’s a risk of bricking the device if the user doesn’t carry out the process correctly. “By releasing Android 16 at this early stage, we hope to empower App developers and early adopters in our community to build even better software experiences,” said OnePlus.
The known list of bugs in the build are as follows:
Unable to close the version update pop-up after upgrading to the DPP version.
Font weight settings cannot be adjusted.
Device may restart when answering a call using Bluetooth headsets.
Lag and display errors in the camera viewfinder and thumbnail in certain scenarios.
Blurry or unclear camera viewfinder in some cases.
Camera crashes when switching to Macro mode with the rear camera.
Crashes and lag after enabling Ultra Steady mode.
Display error in the camera viewfinder during video recording in specific scenarios.
Screen may freeze when tapping the accessibility shortcut button on the home screen.
Lag observed when locking the screen.
This clearly shows that the build isn’t ready for daily use and that’s expected considering its a beta version. However, what is still appreciable is the speed at which OnePlus is developing its software where brands like Samsung are struggling to ship Android 15 to its devices.
WhatsApp has rolled out a good amount of new features for its app to make your conversations and calls more seamless, and improve your Channels experience. The new update includes an online indicator in groups, tappable reactions, a default iOS app, and much more. The new features for chatting are listed below:
Online indicator in groups: To help you know if people are around to chat, you can now see how many people are ‘Online’ in real-time, right under the group name.
Highlight notifications in groups: One can now use the new ‘Notify for’ setting and select ‘Highlights’ to limit notifications for @mentions, replies, and messages from saved contacts or ‘All’ to receive all notifications. This can be done to highlight certain group notifications.
Events updates: In addition to creating events in groups, you can now create an event in a 1:1 conversation. WhatsApp also added the ability to RSVP as ‘maybe,’ invite a plus one, add end date and time for longer events, and PIN the event in a chat.
Tappable reactions: Now you can quickly view everyone else’s reactions and tap the one you want to send.
Document scanning on iPhone: Scan and send documents directly from WhatsApp on iPhone. Simply select ‘Scan document’ from the attachment tray and follow the steps to scan, crop, and save the document.
Default App for iPhone: With the latest iOS update, you can now also set WhatsApp as your default Messaging and calling app on your iPhone. To make the switch, simply go to Settings > Default Apps and select WhatsApp.
For calling, the following features have been introduced:
Pinch to zoom in video calls: iPhone users can now pinch to zoom in on a video while on a video call to get a closer look at your own or peer video.
Add to call from a chat: Add someone to an ongoing 1:1 call directly from a chat thread by tapping the call icon on the top and selecting ‘Add to call’.
Enjoy smoother video calls: WhatsApp says it has upgraded its technology to make your video calls more reliable and higher quality. The platform’s optimised routing system finds the best connection path, reducing dropped calls and video freezing. And its improved Bandwidth detection quickly upgrades your video to HD quality as well.
For the ‘Updates’ tab, here are the following features:
Video notes for Channels: Similar to chats, Channel admins can now instantly record and share short videos (60 seconds or less) with followers.
Voice message transcripts on Channels: You can now get a written summary of voice message updates from channels when you’re on the go and can’t listen to them.
QR codes: As a channel admin, you can now share a unique QR code that links directly to your channel, making it easy to share with others and grow their audience.
