Here are our first Xiaomi Mi A2 camera samples

The Mi A2 may just have the best camera we’ve seen on a $300 phone.

Xiaomi unveiled its 2018 Android One devices earlier this month in Madrid. The Mi A2 comes with significant upgrades from last year’s Mi A1, and the Mi A2 Lite offers a similar user experience at a more affordable price point.

Both devices will be sold in over 40 markets over the world over the coming months, and the Mi A2 set to make its debut in India on August 8. As a refresher, the Mi A2 features a Snapdragon 660 chipset, up to 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.0, and a 3000mAh battery.

The cameras are of particular interest: the Mi A2 has a primary 12MP f/1.75 camera with 1.25um pixels mated to a secondary 20MP f/1.75 u1.0 camera that automatically kicks in during low-light scenarios. The same 20MP f/1.75 imaging module is present up front as well, and there’s also a front LED module that engages when you’re taking selfies at night.

Having used the Mi A2 for just under a week, here’s my initial take on the cameras.

Daylight photos

The Mi A2 does a great job in daylight scenarios. Dynamic range and color reproduction are quite good, as is the level of detail. Auto HDR boosts the overall dynamic range without slowing down the device, and the only issue I’ve faced is a slight shutter lag.

Xiaomi is aggressively pushing AI across its portfolio, but unlike other manufacturers, the feature is primarily focused on the front camera. The AI-assisted feature on the Mi A2 automatically tweaks the intensity of the beautify filter and facilitates a software-driven portrait mode. Edge detection is good, as is the level of evenness of the background blur effect.

Low-light images

You’re guaranteed to get decent daylight photos even with budget phones, but it’s a different matter altogether in low-light scenarios. That’s where the Xiaomi Mi A2 truly shines. The phone has a secondary 20MP camera that kicks in automatically in artificial or low-light conditions, and the results are clearly evident. Images come out full of detail, and the phone manages to do a great job minimizing noise.

The Mi A2 seamlessly switched between the two sensors based on the lighting conditions, and Xiaomi didn’t state a particular threshold after which the low-light camera kicks in. The 20MP module also has 4-to-1 pixel binning to reduce noise levels in low-light shots, with the camera essentially combining information from four pixels into one to create a more detailed image. Overall, the Mi A2 held its own when it comes to low-light photography, and may just be the phone to beat in this area.

HMD should be very worried

The Mi A2 is turning out to be one of the most exciting phones of the year. The hardware is a considerable upgrade from last year, and the camera . It’ll be interesting to see how much the Mi A2 will end up costing in India, as the phone is going up against the Nokia 7 Plus.

Both phones have near-identical hardware, and are based on Android One. With the Nokia 7 Plus retailing for ₹25,999, there’s clear incentive for Xiaomi to debut the Mi A2 at around the ₹20,000 figure, which would allow it to steal market share away from HMD in this category.

With the launch just over a week away, we’ll know more about the Mi A2 very soon. In the meantime, what do you make of the camera? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

OnePlus 3/3T confirmed to receive Android P update

The OnePlus 3 and 3T will go straight from Android 8.0 Oreo to Android P.

OnePlus said that Oreo would be the last platform update for the two-year-old OnePlus 3/3T, but the company is now changing its stance. In a forum thread, OnePlus confirmed that both the OnePlus 3 and 3T will receive the Android P update.

The company said that after “internal discussions and evaluation,” it decided to offer the Android P update to either device in lieu of Android 8.1 Oreo. Both the OnePlus 3 and 3T are currently running Android 8.0 Oreo, and they’ll directly make the switch to Android P, skipping Android 8.1 altogether.

OnePlus’ decision is welcome news to fans using the 3/3T, and while there’s no information on when the Android P update will be delivered to either handset, OnePlus mentions that the upcoming Android version will first make its way to the OnePlus 6, followed by the OnePlus 5/5T, and then hit the 3/3T.

Android P

• Android P: Everything you need to know
• Android P Beta hands-on: The best and worst features
• All the big Android announcements from Google I/O 2018
• Will my phone get Android P?
• How to manually update your Pixel to Android P
• Join the Discussion

OnePlus 3T and OnePlus 3

• OnePlus 3T review: Rekindling a love story
• OnePlus 3T vs. OnePlus 3: What’s the difference?
• OnePlus 3T specs
• Latest OnePlus 3 news
• Discuss OnePlus 3T and 3 in the forums

WhatsApp’s group voice and video calling feature is rolling out to everyone

WhatsApp’s group calling feature supports up to four people simultaneously.

WhatsApp announced earlier this year that it would roll out group calling for both video and voice calls, and the feature is now rolling out to everyone on Android and iOS. Group calling supports four people simultaneously, and to initiate a call, you’ll first need to place a one-on-one voice or video call and select the “add participants” button from the top right corner.

WhatsApp saw a huge boost in its userbase in the last two years, and the messaging platform now has over 1.5 billion monthly active users who spend over 2 billion minutes per day on calls. Group calls are end-to-end encrypted, and they’re designed to work on low-bandwidth networks.

India is WhatsApp’s largest market with over 250 million users, and with an overwhelming majority of users relying on mobile data, it makes sense to optimize the feature to work on 2G and 3G networks. The feature is now rolling out globally, so if you don’t see it just yet, hold tight for a day or two.

Exclusive: Turing’s next phone looks out of this world, and won’t arrive until 2020

Turing Robotics wants yet another shot at the smartphone market. Despite a few failed phone launches under its belt — and after filing bankruptcy earlier this year — the company has provided Digital Trends with plans for its next smartphone. It’s called the Turing HubblePhone: It has two screens, costs a ridiculous amount of money, and won’t arrive until 2020.

The HubblePhone has what Turing is calling a “multi-dimensional” screen that basically is a primary screen with a secondary display. It can fold up like a flip phone, or swivel out at any angle. It’s tough to explain because we have yet to see any physical prototype of this phone, and all we have to visualize this device are the concept photos below. Along with the display, the phone looks like it has a number of cameras. There’s one large main sensor at the top of the device, along with an iPhone X-style notch on the pop-out display that we assume is to be used both as a traditional camera, and for facial recognition. Turing said the camera system will allow people to do things like make a call by mouthing the name of the contact.

The main camera is set to be a big part of the HubblePhone experience. It will offer 15x optical zoom, and there will be video editing software that “dwarfs any available on today’s smartphones.”

Also interesting are the specs under the hood. Turing claims the phone will be powered by two Snapdragon 855 processors, a processor that has yet to be announced by Qualcomm. Either Turing is getting ahead of itself here, or the company is working closely with Qualcomm for the new phone. We’re betting on the former, and we’re waiting for answers from Turing.

Turing has a history of disappointing customers by not keeping promises.”

There are plenty of other vague phrases Turing is marketing for this phone. For example, Turing said the HubblePhone creates a “new dimension in gaming” thanks to the fact that it will integrate AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality), MR (mixed reality) and other technologies into a “cohesive experience.” The phone will also support 5G, though we already have smartphone-makers claiming they have 5G-ready phones coming in 2019. We don’t even know what operating system Turing plans to use on this phone, so take all of this with a huge grain of salt.

How much will all this vague and futuristic-sounding technology cost? A whopping $2,750. You’ll also have to wait until June 2020 to get the phone in the U.S., and Turing already has plans to ship the phone to Europe that August, China in September 2020, and the rest of the world that December.

Turing has a history of disappointing customers by not keeping promises. The original Turing Phone announced back in 2015 faced significant delays, and before shipping the device Turing swapped the operating system from Android 5.1 Lollipop to Sailfish OS, and then ended up shipping an unfinished version of the phone to customers. Next came the $1,000 Turing Appassionato, but it barely began shipping before the company declared bankruptcy in Finland and ceased production. We’re not sure how Turing expects to fund itself through 2020 for the HubblePhone — we’ve asked, and we’ll update this story if we hear back.

In the meantime, we wouldn’t put much stock in holding out for the HubblePhone.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Here’s everything we know about the Motorola Moto Z3 flagship
• We tried some of the RED Hydrogen One’s crazy tech: Here’s what you need to know
• Take a look at what could be the future of Samsung’s Galaxy phones
• Here’s every device available through Amazon Prime Exclusive phones
• Everything we know about Microsoft’s ‘Andromeda’ Surface Phone device

WhatsApp for iOS Gains Group Calling for Voice and Video

Popular Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp this afternoon announced that the WhatsApp apps for iOS and Android devices now support group calling for voice and video.

WhatsApp users can make group calls with up to four people total by starting a one-on-one voice or video call and then tapping the “add participant” button in the top right corner of the app to add another contact to the call.

WhatsApp says that its group calls are end-to-end encrypted and designed to work reliably around the world in a variety of different network conditions.

The feature, which was first announced by Facebook in May at its F8 developer event, is rolling out to iPhone and Android users and should be available to all users soon.

WhatsApp can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tag: WhatsApp
Discuss this article in our forums

Oddball is the innovative, sensor-filled drum machine you can bounce

Whether it’s robot-controlled orchestras, cyberpunk saxophones, or zero-gravity space chimes, we’re suckers for weird musical instruments. Now, thanks to a recently launched Kickstarter campaign, there’s a new entry on our list — and, fittingly for such an avant-garde creation, it’s called Oddball.

If you were to give Oddball the high-concept elevator pitch, you would probably describe it as a throwable drum machine. Essentially, it’s a sensor-filled ball which uses pressure sensors and accelerometers to work out when it hits a surface, and how hard it hits the said surface. When one of these collisions takes place, it uses Bluetooth to trigger a sound played through an accompanying mobile app. By programming different sounds, and finding new ways to bounce the ball, it’s possible to create all manner of new beats and loops.

“The main idea behind Oddball is to make music more accessible, playful, and intuitive for everybody,” co-creator Pasquale Totaro told Digital Trends. “[Co-founder Nathan Webb and I] were talking about that instinctual pleasure you feel when playing an instrument, when you make noise, and when you lay down a groovy beat. We realized that, in reality, it is something that is reserved for a very small group of people — because you need to buy an instrument, commit to practicing and lessons, and is quite uncomfortable when you are just starting off. We asked ourselves, ‘how can we create something that is user-friendly, playful, and easy to use that would allow anybody to experience making music?’ That is how the idea of a ball came about. A ball is the iconic symbol of play: Everybody knows how to bounce it, and the physical nature of using a ball is very rhythmic.”

The accompanying Oddball mobile app lets you select the sound you want to play when the ball bounces, loop beats and overdub, share your created songs with friends, add additional effects, or even play over existing songs. If you’re a bit more skillful, you can also connect multiple balls and assign different sounds to each for a bouncing orchestra effect.

“Imagine if you are out and about, and you want to make a beat,” c0-creator Nathan Webb told us. “Yes, you can use a portable MIDI pad, but with Oddball your whole body and the environment around you can be part of that creative moment.”

As ever, we offer our usual warnings about the potential risks associated with crowdfunding campaigns. However, if you’re interested in getting involved, head over to the Oddball Kickstarter page to pledge your hard-earned cash. A single Oddball will set you back $77.50, although other price options are also available. Shipping is set to take place in January 2019.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Looking for a drummer that won’t argue with you? Spider-like robot fits the bill
• Here are the best free music download sites that are totally legal
• Instagram ‘music stickers’ could help to spice up your Stories
• The best tablets you can buy
• The 10 Best Google Home Games

Use your face or finger to log into accounts using Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge now supports the Web Authentication specification for password-free logins. Support actually appeared in Build 17723 for Windows Insider Fast Ring participants and Build 18204 in the Skip Ahead program last week, but Microsoft didn’t mention the feature until this week’s report.

Already supported in Firefox and Google Chrome, it’s a means for signing into websites without the need for using a password. Once you create an account or set up two-factor authentication, it creates two encrypted tokens, one that resides on the website end (public) and one that resides on your end of the connection (private).

Thus, when you attempt to log into the account, the site sends a request for your private token. To do this, you would simply scan your finger, enter a PIN number, scan your face, or touch a USB-based security key like those sold by Yubico.

The big deal with Web Authentication is that there’s no stand-alone software installed on your PC that handles the private key. Instead, the exchange is handled by Microsoft Edge and a supporting website, thus there is nothing to hack to retrieve stored passwords. And in the case of Microsoft Edge, your password-free logins are tied into Windows Hello.

If you’re not familiar with Windows Hello, it’s Microsoft’s password-free platform for Windows 10. It supports fingerprint scanners and facial recognition — if your PC has the hardware — along with PIN numbers. For instance, all you need to do is look at the screen to log onto Windows 10 rather than type credentials on a keyboard if your PC supports facial recognition. Using Microsoft Edge, Windows 10 extends that capability to supporting websites.

“For websites that are not ready to move to a completely passwordless model, backwards compatibility with FIDO U2F devices can provide a strong second factor in addition to a password,” the company says. “We’re working with industry partners on lighting up the first passwordless experiences around the web.”

U2F stands for Universal 2nd Factor, an open-source authentication standard initially started by Google and Yubico along with NXP Semiconductors. It’s now maintained by the FIDO Alliance, a consortium that includes not only Google, Yubico and NXP, but also American Express, Bank of America, Intel, Lenovo, MasterCard, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Samsung, and many others.

Web Authentication, maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), is a component that’s baked directly into web browsers and supports the U2F standard. If the website supports Web Authentication, then you won’t need a security code sent to you via SMS, nor will you need an app to grant access if you have two-factor authentication enabled. Even more, you won’t need to maintain a volume of different passwords but simply provide a face or a finger.

“We started this journey in 2016, when we shipped the industry’s first preview implementation of the Web Authentication API in Microsoft Edge,” Microsoft says. “Since then, we have been updating our implementation too as we worked with other vendors and the FIDO alliance to develop the standard.”

Passwords are an ancient technology, Microsoft says.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Chrome now supports the new password-free login standard
• How to use Google Docs
• How to use Android Messages on the web
• Firefox 60 is the first browser to support password-free internet logins
• Cloud-based call recording is coming to Skype, but will you use it?

The winning photographs from the 2018 Drone Awards will make you drool

“Above the Polar Bear” Winner: Photo of the Year Florian Ledoux

Drone photography has really taken off over the past few years, propelled in part by cheaper and more accessible technology. You can now buy a good consumer unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for just a couple hundreds bucks, or drop a few hundred more for one of the best on the market. Some may complain about the hum of UAVs hovering overhead but there’s one thing we can all agree on — the quality (and quantity) of aerial photography has reached new heights.

Case in point: The 2018 Drone Awards, which showcases some of the best aerial photography around. From scenes depicting the perils of climate change to abstract art and images of our built environment, more than 4,400 submissions from 101 countries were made to the Drone Awards. Now, seven have been selected as winners. Categories include urban, wildlife, sport, people, nature, abstract, and an overall photo of the year.

Previous

Next

1 of 7

“Above the Polar Bear”
Winner: Photo of the Year Florian Ledoux

“Assisi Over the Clouds”
Winner: Urban Francesco Cattuto

“Mada’in Saleh”
Winner: Nature Gabriel Scanu

“Weather Snake”
Winner: Abstract

“Pilgrimage of Millions of People”
Winner: People Qinghua Shui

“Skating Shadows”
Winner: Sport Vincent Riemersma

“Blacktip Shark”
Winner: Wildlife Adam Barker

The photo of the year winner went to a nature image captured by French photographer Florian Ledoux. (You might recognize Ledoux’s photo as the winner of Skypixel’s photo contest earlier this year.) Titled Above the Polar Bear, the photo shows an almost golden polar bear crossing over ice blue water. Ledoux snapped the photo in Nunavut, Canada, while working on a report about wildlife in the area. He used a Phantom 4 Pro.

“I have witnessed incredible moments and scenes of the wild but I can guarantee you that this, by far, is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” Ledoux said at the time. “I hope that future generations will still be able to witness the beauty and grandeur of the Arctic wildlife the same way we do today.”

The best abstract photo was awarded to Ovi D. Pop’s Weather Snake, a striking image that contrasts a winding road through a dense forest during different seasons.

In the nature category, Gabriel Scanu’s winning image, Mada’in Saleh, depicts the legendary archeological site at such a distance to make it appear like a sand castle.

The urban category winner is Francesco Cattuto’s Assisi Over the Clouds, an otherworldly image of the Italian town seeming to jut out like a peninsula amid a sea of clouds.

The 2018 Drone Awards is a new initiative by the nonprofit Art Photo Travel Association, designed to highlight amateur and professional photographers alike.

Can’t get enough of these aerial images? Click here to see all the contest winners and notable submissions. And check out our gallery of the best drone photos.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The best drone photos from around the world
• These might be the best photos shot with an iPhone in 2018
• Like a vice principal in the sky, this A.I. spots fights before they happen
• Someone made a working analog alarm clock from Nintendo Labo
• Where to download free stock photos and public domain images

MoviePass: Everything you need to know

Here’s your one-stop-shop for all the MoviePass news, controversies, and more.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately, there’s a good chance you’ve heard a thing or two about MoviePass. Although the company was founded way back in 2011, it’s picked up a lot of steam over the past year or so with its too-good-to-be-true offer of allowing you to see one movie per day for just $9.95/month.

MoviePass has become one of the most disruptive companies of recent memory, and whether you’re looking for the latest controversies or want to learn more about the service before you sign up, you’ve come to the right place.

Without further ado, this is everything you need to know about MoviePass!

The latest MoviePass news

July 30, 2018 — MoviePass CEO says subscribers will no longer be able to watch big, well-known movies

Following an outage that’s been affecting customers all throughout the weekend and today, Business Insider reported that MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe called for an “all-hands meeting” in which he confirmed that the app will no longer allow users to see “big upcoming movies.”

This means that you won’t be able to use your MoviePass to see titles such as The Meg, Christopher Robin, etc.

Users first got a taste of this practice earlier this week when they were blocked from seeing Mission Impossible: Fallout at theaters that weren’t partnered with MoviePass to support E-Ticketing, but from the sound of things, all theaters will be blocked from upcoming big releases going forward. Apparently, Lowe noted that this change will be in effect for the forseeable future.

Aka, MoviePass is dead.

July 27, 2018 — MoviePass experiences widespread outage due to a lack of cash; parent company borrows $5 million to keep the lights on

If you tried using your MoviePass last night, chances are things didn’t work out so well. At 5:12 PM ET on Thursday, July 26, MoviePass announced on its Twitter account that it was aware of “an issue that is preventing users from checking-in to movies.” In the interim, it was said you could still use the app at theaters that accept E-Ticketing with MoviePass without any problem.

Today, Business Insider confirmed that the reason for this outage was that MoviePass ran out of cash and couldn’t afford to pay its payment processor that handles the physical MoviePass cards.

Following this, parent company Helios and Matheson announced through an SEC filing that it’s decided to borrow $5 million in cash to keep things running. It’s being reported that some users are still unable to check-in to showtimes even after the additonal funds were borrowed, so keep an eye on MoviePass’s Twitter page for further updates.

All the important details

There are two plans to choose from

Right now, you’ve got two options to choose from if you want to get MoviePass — MoviePass and MoviePass Unlimited.

The former of those two costs $7.95/month and lets you see three movies per month.

While it’s nice that MoviePass has this available if you want to save a couple bucks each month, I’d recommend going all the way with MoviePass Unlimited. For $9.95/month, you can watch one new movie per day in theaters every single day.

Both plans are billed monthly and can be canceled at any time.

See at MoviePass

E-ticketing makes everything easier

MoviePass is regularly partnering with more and more theater chains to support e-ticketing, and if you happen to live near one that offers this, you’re in for a real treat.

For theaters that don’t support e-ticketing, using MoviePass requires you to be within 100 yards of the theater you’re going to, check-in to the showtime on your phone, and then swipe your card to get your ticket. If the showing happens to sell out by the time you get to the theater, you can either choose another movie or call it a night.

However, if there’s a theater near you that does support e-ticketing, the process is way simpler. Once you find the showtime you want to go to, a “Get E-Ticket” button will pop up instead of the “Check In” one.

E-tickets can’t be canceled once you buy them, but they do have the added benefit of allowing you buy them wherever you are. Also, if you’re theater supports e-ticketing and reserved seating, you can even choose your seat right from the MoviePass app! Once you get to the theater, just type in the redemption code for your e-ticket or scan the QR code.

Right now, e-ticketing with MoviePass works at Goodrich Quality Theaters, Studio Movie Grill, and MJR Theaters.

Only 2D movies are supported, at least for now

As it currently stands, you can only use your MoviePass to watch regular 2D movies. In the near future, however, that will soon be changing.

By Labor Day (September 3), MoviePass will allow you to pay an upgrade fee to see RealD 3D, IMAX 2D, 3D, and other Premium Large Format movies.

That fee will range between $2 – $5 depending on what kind of premium show you’re seeing.

You can’t rewatch movies

As good of a deal as MoiePass is, it’s not without a few limits here and there — the first of which is the fact that you can’t rewatch movies.

MoviePass experimented with letting people rewatch the same movie over and over again for a few months but eventually decided to revoke the right to prevent ticket-scalping and other misuses of the service.

It would certainly be nice to have the option of seeing a movie again that you particularly like, but don’t expect this to come back anytime soon.

You can still benefit from your theater’s loyalty program

If your theater has a loyalty program that rewards you with points for buying tickets and concessions, you can link it up to your MoviePass account and still get rewarded for the tickets you “buy” with your MoviePass subscription.

As it currently stands, you can link loyalty programs from Goodrich Quality Theaters, D Place Entertainment, and Starlight Cinemas.

It’s an admittedly small list right now, but it’s one that should only grow more and more as time goes on.

What’s the deal with Peak Pricing?

MoviePass is always trying to find ways of adapting its business model as more and more people join, and one of those latest efforts is seen with Peak Pricing. On June 22, MoviePass said the following:

Under this plan, if the combination of demand for a title, date or part of day is higher, subscribers may be asked to pay a small additional fee depending on the level of demand. You can avoid this peak surcharge by choosing an alternative date or film.

In the MoviePass app, showtimes that are affected by Peak Pricing will be indicated by a red lightning bolt icon next to them. If a showtime isn’t currently in Peak Pricing but might enter it soon, you’ll see a grey icon.

The surcharge you’ll need to pay is entirely dependent on the movie and time, but as a point of reference, the screenshots MoviePass shared show a surcharge of $3.43. Thankfully, MoviePass will launch Peak Passes in the coming weeks that’ll allow you to waive the Peak Pricing fee once per month.

Peak Pricing officially launched on July 5 and is rolling out to users over the coming weeks. If you’re currently subscribed to an annual or quarterly plan, you won’t have to deal with Peak Pricing until your plan ends and renews.

Be mindful of the device authorization limit

If you’re someone that lives the two phone life or frequently goes from device to device, you’ll want to keep MoviePass’s device authorization limit in mind.

To “keep your account secure”, MoviePass only allows you to be signed into the MoviePass app on one phone at a time. However, if you do get a new phone or need to sign into another one for whatever reason, you can log into your account on another phone every 30 days.

Just download the app, enter your credentials, and confirm that you want to use that as your authorized device.

Updated July 12, 2018: Updated the plan information now that the iHeartRadio promo is over and added more details about premium movies.

Google Maps for iOS Updated With ‘Match’ Customized Restaurant Recommendations

Google Maps was today updated with a new “Match” feature that’s designed to offer up personalized restaurant recommendations based on a user’s customized tastes.

The Match option allows users to tap on a food or drink spot to see if they’re likely to enjoy a new spot based on past restaurant visiting history. The update also includes a list of how many restaurants have been visited in the Explore tabs trending feature.

Thanks for using Google Maps!

– Our new “match” feature will help you find your one true love. And by love, we mean your next favorite cheeseburger. Tap on a food or drink spot to see how likely you are to enjoy it based on your unique preferences – so you can spend more time eating and less time searching for places to go.

– When viewing trending lists in the Explore tab, you can now see how many restaurants you’ve been to. Keep discovering and going to new places to complete a list!

Google’s Match feature was first outlined in May at Google I/O, and it rolled out for Android users in June before expanding to iOS users today.

Recommendations will take into account food and drink preferences selected in Google Maps, places you’ve been to, and places you’ve rated or added to a list. Scores for restaurants will get smarter over time with usage.

Google Maps can be downloaded from the iOS App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tags: Google, Google Maps
Discuss this article in our forums