limerod

TL;DR

• OnePlus says that Oxygen OS 15 on its “next generation flagship phone” (i.e. OnePlus 13) is nearly 20% smaller than Oxygen OS 14 on the OnePlus 12.
• The company announced during a briefing that this results in 5GB+ more storage space available to users.
• It accomplished this by removing redundant features, reducing preloaded resources, and reducing the space needed for future Android versions.

TL;DR

• The adaptive refresh rate (ARR) feature in Android 15 enables the display refresh rate to adapt to the frame rate of content.
• The ARR feature reduces power consumption and jank as it lets devices operate at lower refresh rates without the need for mode switching.
• While previous versions of Android supported multiple refresh rates, they did so by switching between discrete display modes.

Following a leaked photo of the Nubia RedMagic 10 Ultra, the successor to the RedMagic 9S Pro has now just been tested at Geekbench. Thanks to the combination of the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite and a cooling fan, the smartphone reached an impressive score of 3,229 points on just one core and 10,300 points when using all cores.

This makes Nubia's latest gaming flagship around 42.2% faster than its own predecessor based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The performance of the Realme GT7 Pro, which is also equipped with a Snapdragon 8 Elite, is outperformed by 7.2% and 12.6%, respectively, and that from the very first Geekbench run. As initial tests of the Realme GT7 Pro have shown, the performance of the smartphone drops drastically under sustained load, so the fan can pay off for gaming enthusiasts in particular.

With this result, the RedMagic 10 Ultra not only surpasses the performance of the Apple A18 Pro in the iPhone 16 Pro, but also the performance of the Apple M2, making the smartphone faster than the MacBook Air from 2022, at least in terms of CPU performance. As previous leaks have already shown, the RedMagic 10 Ultra also offers high-end features beyond the Snapdragon 8 Elite, including a 7-inch display and 7,000 mAh battery. The smartphone is expected to be officially unveiled in November.

Tecno launched the #ToneProud campaign to end skin tone bias in imaging technology. The company sent out a press release explaining the campaign's goal of raising awareness about skin tone diversity while introducing its 268 skin tone database to consumers.

The campaign lays on the backbones of the Universal Skin Tone technology, introduced by Tecno last year.

Tecno said in today's world, technology and AI shape perceptions and raised the question of whether smartphones truly capture “the full spectrum and beauty of human diversity, especially in often-overlooked emerging markets.”

According to a study in 2018 from MIT and Stanford University, there is skin-tone bias in some commercial artificial intelligence systems. One way to combat this is through scientific data collection and innovative measurement to provide a better understanding of those systems.

The campaign includes assigning specific color codes to different skin tones; everyone can add their input. Tecno got on board some major celebrities in its key markets, such as Indonesian-born singer-songwriter Anggun, Saudi Arabian filmmaker and actress Fatima Al-Banawi, Nigerian singer-songwriter Johnny Drille and Polish actress Ewa Kepys.

Popular people might be the face of the campaign, but the real color of the campaign is ordinary people. Everyone can find their skin tone on 268toneproud.com and with the smartphone's front-facing camera to find their skin tone in hex triplet number.

It is important to note that all images taken and submitted through the 268toneproud website will go into Tecno's database to further develop the AI skin tone software.

You get a priority scheduling algorithm that intelligently allocates resources based on actual requirements, thus improving smoothness, a rapid dynamic effect engine for the same purpose, and new system dynamic effects featuring a new Origin animation which "incorporates principles from human factors research and integrates the natural laws of the physical world into the dynamic effect design".

There are many new wallpapers, both static and immersive ones, you can set local videos as live wallpapers now, you can have large folders on your home screens, there are new clock widgets, Ultra Game Mode comes with multiple quick setting options, screenshot capture is improved, the Smart sidebar now has access to Google Lens for quick translations of on-screen content, Notes has more text editing tools and the ability to export in Word format, and Settings comes with better categorization and hierarchies.

You can drag a split-screen to the middle of the screen to switch to a small window, and drag a small window to the edge of an app to switch to split-screen, while the startup gestures for split-screen and small window modes have been optimized. You can swipe up from the bottom to the upper left or right corner to quickly enter split screen or small window mode.

Now it's time for AI. Live Transcribe is present, as is Circle to Search, and the Albums app gets Cleanup suggestions and AI erase to get rid of unwanted things or people in your photos.

Two Android releases in 2025

Next year, we’ll have a major release in Q2 and a minor release in Q4, both of which will include new developer APIs. The Q2 major release will be the only release in 2025 to include behavior changes that can affect apps. We’re planning the major release for Q2 rather than Q3 to better align with the schedule of device launches across our ecosystem, so more devices can get the major release of Android sooner.

The Q4 minor release will pick up feature updates, optimizations, and bug fixes since the major release. It will also include new developer APIs, but will not include any app-impacting behavior changes.

Outside of the major and minor Android releases, our Q1 and Q3 releases will provide incremental updates to help ensure continuous quality. We’re actively working with our device partners to bring the Q2 release to as many devices as possible.

What this means for your apps

With the major release coming in Q2, you’ll need to do your annual compatibility testing a few months earlier than in previous years to make sure your apps are ready. Major releases are just like the SDK releases we have today, and can include behavior changes along with new developer APIs – and to help you get started, we’ll soon begin the developer preview and beta program for the Q2 major release.

The minor release in Q4 will include new APIs, but, like the incremental quarterly releases we have today, will have no planned behavior changes, minimizing the need for compatibility testing. To differentiate major releases (which may contain planned behavior changes) from minor releases, minor releases will not increment the API level. Instead, they'll increment a new minor API level value, which will be accessed through a constant that captures both major and minor API levels. A new manifest attribute will allow you to specify a minor API level as the minimum required SDK release for your app. We’ll have an initial version of support for minor API levels in the upcoming Q2 developer preview, so please try building against the SDK and let us know how this works for you.

When planning your targeting for 2026, there’s no change to the target API level requirements and the associated dates for apps in Google Play; our plans are for one annual requirement each year, and that will be tied to the major API level only.

Today is the day for Xiaomi to unveil its new flagships – and to our surprise, it unveiled three new models. It turned out that the third module is just a special edition of the small Xiaomi 15, which brings no less than 20 color options to choose from. The regular 15 is available in a good number of colors too, but that’s not what you’re interested in, is it?

Xiaomi managed to fit a massive 5,400mAh battery with the Silicon-Carbon tech that has been gaining popularity recently. For reference, the Xiaomi 14 had a 4,610mAh battery.

The display remains at 6.36”. It’s not tiny, but the 15 is smaller than most Androids. This is a flat OLED panel with 1,200 x 2,670px resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. The peak brightness has been boosted a bit to 3,200 nits (up from 3,000 nits) with DC dimming to dial it down. And we know that some of you have been waiting for this one – the new model uses an ultrasonic fingerprint reader.

The display is protected by Xiaomi Dragon Crystal glass for the first time, which is 10x tougher than the Gorilla Glass Victus used by the Xiaomi 14 (says Xiaomi’s internal lab). The phone’s frame is made out of high-strength aluminum alloy that has 33% higher bending resistance. Naturally, the phone is rated IP68 for dust and water resistance.

The camera system has a few changes, but few actual upgrades. It is a triple 50MP setup once again. The main camera uses the Light Fusion 900 sensor from OmniVision (sometimes mistranslated as Light Hunter), a 1/1.31” sensor with 1.2µm pixels. The 23mm lens has a bright f/1.62 aperture and OIS. Xiaomi promises that 5x lossless zoom (120mm) is possible with this camera.

The Xiaomi 15 is available for pre-order in China now through the company’s online store, proper sales start on October 31. The base 12/256GB model costs CNY 4,500 (which converts to $630/€585/₹53,000). There are a few more versions going all the way up to 16GB/1TB, check the table below.

Xiaomi 15 	
12GB/256GB 	CNY 4,500
12GB/512GB 	CNY 4,800
16GB/512GB 	CNY 5,000
16GB/1TB 	CNY 5,500
Diamond Edition 	CNY 6,000
Custom Edition (16GB/512GB) CNY 5,000

Wait, Diamond Edition? And that’s not even the special edition we mentioned in the beginning. The vanilla Xiaomi 15 has a glass back and comes in Lilac, Green, Black and White versions. There’s also the Silver Edition.

The Diamond Edition switches over to crocodile-grain leather for the back and has an actual 57 facet diamond embedded on the side. The camera island is also given a sparkly texture. This edition is available in Elephant Gray, Orange and Glacier White. This is a limited edition, so it won’t be around forever and we don’t know whether it will be available outside of China.

This brings us to the Xiaomi 15 Custom Edition. The back panel offers an impressive palette of 20 colors to choose from. They are paired with two paint jobs for the aluminum frame (high gloss PVD). The Custom Edition is available only in a 16/512GB configuration.

OnePlus 13 is coming with a 6,000 mAh battery, the company confirmed in its latest teaser. This will be the brand's first flagship with such a battery capacity and is over 10% more than what the predecessor had.

We also learned that it will keep the 100W SuperVOOC wired charging, but the 50W wireless charging will work with a magnetic attachment.

The new phone will arrive on October 31, and we'll also see some power accessories on stage – a magnetic power bank with 5,000 mAh capacity, a wireless charger with a cooling fan, a 100W SuperVOOC power bank, and a brand new 120W GaN adapter.

The OnePlus 13 will get a line of official cases that old-school brand fans will love. We are looking at two wooden options and a sandstone variant. It seems like OnePlus will also launch a branded cup for beverages for its really hardcore fans.

The launch of the phone is in three days, and so far, we learned it will have a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, up to 24 GB LPDDR5X RAM and 1 TB UFS 4.0 storage. Camera-wise, there is a revamped setup with a 50 MP multi-prism telephoto shooter while sticking to a familiar design.