Confirmed: OnePlus 3 to be discontinued in favor of new 3T model
When it’s gone, it’s gone.
With the arrival of the OnePlus 3T — a new mid-cycle refresh of the OnePlus 3 — some have been wondering what the future holds for OnePlus’s original (and more affordable) flagship phone. Well, the short version is: It’s going away, and it’s not coming back.
A OnePlus spokesperson has confirmed to Android Central that once existing U.S. and European OnePlus 3 stock is sold out, it won’t be going back on sale. From then on, the company will focus solely on selling the OnePlus 3T. In the UK, the original OnePlus 3 is already sold out, leaving the higher-end (but also more expensive) model as the only option for customers.
Once existing U.S. and Euro stock is sold out, the OnePlus 3 won’t be coming back.
It’s unclear exactly why the OnePlus 3 is being given a relatively unceremonious send-off. Likely it has to do with OnePlus wanting to focus on a small product lineup, as it always has done, while not confusing things by selling two very similar phones. For a startup with more limited resources, it’s an understandable move. That doesn’t mean it’ll be impossible to get hold of the older model, though — independent retailers on Amazon continue to stock the device, as does O2 in the UK.
Although it’s unusual to see a popular phone discontinued after such a short period of time (the OnePlus 3 was released just five months ago), owners shouldn’t fear being left behind in terms of updates. The manufacturer says both the 3 and 3T will be on the same update schedule, with both getting Android 7.0 Nougat before year’s end.
OnePlus 3 owners, what are your thoughts on today’s news? Shout out in the comments!
OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T
- OnePlus 3 review: Finally, all grown up
- The OnePlus 3T is official
- OnePlus 3 specs
- OnePlus 3T vs. OnePlus 3: What’s the difference?
- Latest OnePlus 3 news
- Discuss OnePlus 3 in the forums
OnePlus
OnePlus 3T now available to pre-order on O2 UK
On-contract prices start at £31 per month.
O2 UK has officially kicked off pre-orders for the OnePlus 3T ahead of the street date of November 28. The exclusive UK carrier partner for the souped-up OnePlus 3 successor has both the 64GB and 128GB models available online, in the new “gunmetal” color option. Prices start at £31 per month and £9.99 upfront for a mere 500MB data allowance, rising to £52 per month for a hefty 30GB bundle. (That’s for the 64GB base model.)
In addition, eager fans can get their hands on the OnePlus 3T a little early, as O2 will be hosting a pop-up event next Thursday afternoon in London.
The OnePlus 3T will be available in O2 stores and online from 28 November, with O2’s 134 Oxford Street London store hosting an exclusive OnePlus pop-up event from 3:02pm on Thursday 24 November.
See at O2
OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T
- OnePlus 3 review: Finally, all grown up
- The OnePlus 3T is official
- OnePlus 3 specs
- OnePlus 3T vs. OnePlus 3: What’s the difference?
- Latest OnePlus 3 news
- Discuss OnePlus 3 in the forums
OnePlus
How to use the Simple home screen on Honor 8
Make your Honor 8 a little simpler, and a little easier to use.
Are you looking to make the Honor 8 even simpler to use? The icons can be somewhat small, and the settings list too long, but all of that can be changed. You don’t have to squint to try and find what you are looking for, or scroll for hours looking for something that you can’t find. In just a few simple taps you can turn that pesky home screen into one that is much easier to see and use. Here’s how you do it.
How to enable Simple home screen on the Honor 8
Open Settings.
Scroll to Home screen style.
Tap on Simple.
Select Apply.
Once you’ve applied the Simple home screen you’ll be presented with a whole new look. The icons are nice and big so they are easy to see and press. The menu becomes much simpler, but you will still have access to the longer scrolling list if you want. Pressing and holding on an icon will allow you to remove or add new icons. There are two pages of apps, the calendar icon shows you the next task on your schedule, and the colors make it easy to see what is what.
If you find the original home screen too complicated or hard to use, you’ll want to check this one out for a simpler experience.
Honor 8
- Honor 8 review
- Honor 8 specs
- 5 things to know about the Honor 8 in Europe
- All the Honor 8 news
- Join the discussion in the forums
Amazon
HonorBest BuyNeweggB&H
Get a year of Amazon Prime for $79 on The Grand Tour launch day
New show kicks off this Friday, global launch will bring it to 200+ countries in December.
To celebrate the launch of The Grand Tour, Amazon is making it cheaper to get in on a year’s Prime membership in the U.S., and enjoy the new show from day one. On November 18, you’ll be able to save $20 on a year of Amazon Prime, with the price dropping to $79 for a day only.
That gets you access to the antics of Clarkson, May and Hammond, but also instant streaming through Amazon Video, photo storage, faster shipping on Amazon orders, and a discounted price on Amazon Music Unlimited.
See at Amazon
In related news, the Grand Tour trio have announced that from December the show will be launching globally, allowing viewers in more than 200 countries to catch up on previous shows, and see new ones every Friday.
A message from the guys. pic.twitter.com/p1IJNRjAnS
— The Grand Tour (@thegrandtour) November 16, 2016
Amazon UK has been running a similar weeklong promotion for Prime, making the service available for £59, down from the usual £79.
Qualcomm introduces Quick Charge 4.0 with 20% faster charging, USB-C support
Quick Charge is now compliant with USB-C.
Qualcomm’s Quick Charge is the world’s leading fast charging standard with over 100 compatible phones and over 300 accessories. With the mobile industry moving away from microUSB to the more versatile USB-C standard, Qualcomm is rolling out Quick Charge 4.0, which supports USB-C and USB-PD (Power Delivery).
The latter is a significant addition. In the latest Android Compatibility Definition Document, Google has strongly recommended manufacturers wean away from non-standard USB-C charging solutions like Quick Charge, instead directing them to adhere to the USB-PD spec. With Qualcomm now adopting USB-PD in Quick Charge 4.0, the issue of non-standard charging becomes a moot point.
Qualcomm is also touting its parallel charging technology — Dual Charge — to deliver up to 20% faster charging and up to 30% higher efficiency when compared with Quick Charge 3.0. With QC 4.0, you’ll be able to extend your phone usage by up to five hours with just five minutes of charging.
QC 4.0 includes the latest iteration of Qualcomm’s custom power management algorithm, Intelligent Negotiation for Optimum
Voltage. The algorithm now comes with real-time thermal management, which automatically sets the optimal power
transfer level for a device. Qualcomm is also introducing new power management ICs, and bundling new safety measures:
Protection is implemented at multiple levels and throughout the entire charging process to more accurately measure voltage, current, and temperature while protecting the battery, system, cables and connectors. An additional layer of protection is also being added to help prevent battery overcharging and regulate current throughout every charge cycle.
Quick Charge 4.0 will make its debut with the Snapdragon 835, which will be available in the first half of 2017.
Snapdragon 835 now official as Qualcomm teams up with Samsung over 10nm process
The next-gen Snapdragon 835 will be built on Samsung’s 10nm node.
Qualcomm collaborated with Samsung over the 14nm Snapdragon 820 and 821, and the company is continuing to work with the South Korean foundry over its next-gen SoC, the Snapdragon 835.
The Snapdragon 835 will be built on Samsung’s 10nm FinFET node, which entered mass production in October. The node shrink allows for up to 30% increase in area efficiency with 27% higher performance. The smaller footprint gives handset manufacturers the headroom to add larger batteries or opt for thinner designs.
From Keith Kressin, senior vice president of product management at Qualcomm:
We are excited to continue working together with Samsung in developing products that lead the mobile industry.
Using the new 10nm process node is expected to allow our premium tier Snapdragon 835 processor to deliver greater power efficiency and increase performance while also allowing us to add a number of new capabilities that can improve the user experience of tomorrow’s mobile devices.
The Snapdragon 835 is now in production, and will make its way into consumer devices in the first half of 2017.
Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0 due 2017: 5-minutes charge for 5-hours battery use
Qualcomm is to introduce its next-generation of fast-charging, Quick Charge 4.0, as part of its forthcoming Snapdragon 835 chipset (an ultra-small 10-nanometer technology that will be produced by Samsung, due in 2017).
The new battery top-up tech is 20 per cent faster than Quick Charge 3.0 and 250 per cent faster than the original Quick Charge technology. QC4.0 can deliver five hours of battery life from just five minutes at the plug. Cue the “5 for 5” marketing, rather than buy two get one free at Boots.
In a similar fashion to Huawei’s SuperCharge technology, as found in the Mate 9, Qualcomm QC4.0 will be able to operate at low-voltage 5V and high-current 3A for rapid charging.
- Huawei Mate 9 review: The big-screen boss
QuickCharge 4.0 is also designed with safety in mind. With cable quality detection, the technology can adapt charging speed as necessary, while three levels of voltage protection and four levels of temperature protection ensure devices won’t dangerously overheat.
QC4.0 will be fully compliant with USB Power Delivery (PD), meaning consistent power delivery whether using the latest USB Type-C or other USB cable types.
We’ll have to wait until 2017 for QuickCharge 4.0 to appear in devices as part of an inevitable Snapdragon 835 push. Which is a lot longer to wait than how quickly QC4.0 will be re-juicing batteries.
The Morning After: Thursday, November 17, 2016
We put the 4K-ready Chromecast to the test, saw increasingly less snow around the US, and gawp at the first hybrid Mini — as well as a whole bunch of new cars coming out of the LA Auto Show. There’s also the discovery of a “Watch Dogs 2” character that has fully rendered sex organs for no apparent reason whatsoever. Not just another Thursday.
Better video quality comes at a costReview: Chromecast Ultra
Yes, the Chromecast Ultra does exactly what it promises to do: reliably stream 4K HDR video to compatible TVs. But the (marginal) increase in quality, alongside a lack of 4K content, means the device is hardly a must-buy.
Well, it wasn’t the players’ faultGamer discovers female characters with fully rendered private parts in “Watch Dogs 2,” gets banned
“Watch Dogs 2” tried to keep things as realistic as it could when it tried to offer a hackable gaming world, but it took next to no advanced hacker skillz for one player to discover that at least one of the female character models in the game has a fully rendered vagina. Why? Ubisoft hasn’t said, but revealing the hidden creepy detail was enough to get NeoGAF forum member Goron2000 banned from the Sony Entertainment Network (including PSN). Fortunately, his account was later reinstated.
May contain traces of “courage”The new MacBook Pro (and the Touch Bar) gets the teardown treatment
An iFixit teardown of the 13-inch Touch Bar MacBook Pro reveals that there are even fewer replaceable parts than before. Its solid-state drive is embedded on the motherboard (even the non–Touch Bar model has a removable card), so whatever capacity you choose is what you’ll have for the life of the system. And that Touch Bar, as you might guess, isn’t exactly easy to replace.
All-wheel drive is split between gas and electric enginesThis is Mini’s first hybrid vehicle
Mini unveiled its hybrid all-wheel-drive Countryman S E at the LA Auto Show today. What’s intriguing is that, while it’s an AWD vehicle, the front wheels are powered by the gas engine while the rear ones are connected to an electric motor. The hybrid’s electric system is based on the platform used by parent company BMW’s all-electric eDrive system that powers the i3 and i8 vehicles. That pedigree will extend to an all-electric Mini that will launch in urban areas in 2019.
Studying is hard — even for artificial intelligenceJapanese AI fails to make the grade for Tokyo’s top university
A team of scientists from the National Institute of Informatics in Japan have given up on attempting to make their AI smart enough to get into the University of Tokyo. What exactly held it back? Team member Noriko Arai said AIs just aren’t “good at answering a type of question that requires the ability to grasp meaning in a broad spectrum.”
Google Earth is now available in VRThe entire planet, inside your VR headset
Google’s virtual Earth is now available in virtual reality. For the first time, users can walk through real city streets, fly through canyons and teleport to anywhere in the world. Earth VR covers the entire 196.9 million square miles of the planet, but for now you’ll need HTC’s Vive headset to explore. Google Earth VR will be coming to even more platforms (and presumably Google’s own Daydream VR) sometime next year.
But wait, there’s more…
- Tesla cars will get even quicker through a software update
- “White” Twitter bots can help curb racism
- US snow cover hits an all-time low for November
- Maven offers free birth control prescriptions via digital doctors
Facebook’s acquisition will enhance its Snapchat-like filters
Facebook has snapped up a facial recognition startup to help it win the war it waged against Snapchat. The social network has acquired FacioMetrics, a Carnegie Mellon University spinoff that developed a few face detection apps, including one that can recognize seven different emotions in human faces. Those applications are no longer available in any app store. A Facebook spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company plans to use the startup’s technology to enhance its Snapchat-like AR filters for Facebook videos and Live broadcasts. It could lead to new AR masks, new special effects and even new ways to trigger their animations.
The spokesperson said:
“How people share and communicate is changing and things like masks and other effects allow people to express themselves in fun and creative ways. We’re excited to welcome the Faciometrics team who will help bring more fun effects to photos and videos and build even more engaging sharing experiences on Facebook.”
TC also noted that the acquisition could lead to facial gesture controls, since one of Facebook’s goals for its AI research efforts is to “recognize facial expressions and perform related actions.” That likely won’t happen in the near future, but we’re looking forward to a time when we can make faces at our phones to control the Facebook app.
Here is FacioMetrics’ full statement about the purchase:
“We started FacioMetrics to respond to the increasing interest and demand for facial image analysis – with all kinds of applications including augmented/virtual reality, animation, audience reaction measurement, and others. We began our research at Carnegie Mellon University developing state-of-the-art computer vision and machine learning algorithms for facial image analysis. Over time, we have successfully developed and integrated this cutting-edge technology into battery-friendly and efficient mobile applications, and also created new applications of this technology.
Now, we’re taking a big step forward by joining the team at Facebook, where we’ll be able to advance our work at an incredible scale, reaching people from across the globe. We are thrilled for our next big step forward by joining Facebook. We’d like to thank Carnegie Mellon University and our clients for their trust and support – we couldn’t have made it this far without them.
We are looking forward to getting started at Facebook!”
Via: VentureBeat
Source: FacioMetrics
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 is its first 10-nanometer CPU
Qualcomm has unveiled its next-gen Snapdragon 835 flagship CPU and confirmed rumors that it will be built by Samsung using its 10-nanometer FinFET process. Compared to the current 14-nanometer Snapdragon 821 (also built by Samsung), the new CPU packs 30 percent more parts into the same space, yielding 27 percent better performance while drawing up to 40 percent less power, the company says. It also improved the design, which will yield “significant” improvements to battery life
Other companies, including Intel and TMSC, are working on 10-nanometer chips, but Samsung said it’s the first to start building them. Samsung VP Jong Shik Yoon says “this collaboration is an important milestone for our foundry business,” and no doubt a shot of good news to distract from Samsung’s smartphone problems. Qualcomm expects devices with the first Snapdragon 835 processors, possibly including Samsung’s Galaxy S8, to arrive in the first half of 2017. It reportedly has a Snapdragon 830 coming too, but is still mum about that CPU.
The new chip comes with Quick Charge 4, which supports 20 percent faster charging than Qualcomm’s last-gen tech. That, the company says, will give you up to five hours of extra battery life with just a five minute charge. In just 15 minutes, it’ll give Snapdragon 835 phones a half-full battery.
The system uses its “INOV” (Intelligent Negotiation for Optimum Voltge) tech, and says the tech is compatible with Google’s new guidelines for USB Type-C charging. Google previously said that Qualcomm’s Quickcharge 3.0 was not, in effect, compatible with its Nougat specs (above). Mountain View was trying to avoid multiple charge standards that could make it easy to plug the wrong charger into a phone and possibly fry it, or worse, cause a fire or explosion. For instance, OnePlus released a cable that works fine on the OnePlus 2 but can damage other phones or chargers.
However, Qualcomm says its system has “advanced safety features for both the adapter and mobile device.” It can gauge current, voltage and temperature to safeguard the battery, cables and connectors. “An additional layer of protection is also being added to help prevent battery overcharging and regulate current throughout every charge cycle,” its press release notes.
The addition of “compatibility with USB Power Delivery” means that it should meet Google’s compatibility specs. That’s a good thing, as Google said it may take a harder line on future releases. “While this is called out as ‘STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.’ in future Android versions we might REQUIRE all type-C devices to support full interoperability with standard type-C chargers,” its spec says (emphasis theirs).
AIVAnet 