MobileNews

Ex-Uber self-driving head convicted of stealing Google trade secrets pardoned by Trump

January 20, 2021
Ahead of his term ending, President Trump late this evening issued 143 clemencies. One of the pardons was for Anthony Levandowski, who was convicted of stealing Google’s self-driving technology before departing for Uber.  Levandowski was an early employee of Google’s self-driving car project, but later clashed with management on the rate of progress. Before leaving Google, the engineer…
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MobileNews

Google Lens passes 500 million installs on the Play Store

January 20, 2021
Another core Google app has now reached the 500-million install milestone on the Google Play Store – this time, it’s the turn of Lens. After launching some three or so years ago, Google Lens is one of those often forgotten apps that has a ton of utility under the hood…
MobileNews

LG might leave the smartphone market soon, CEO confirms

January 20, 2021
LG’s space in the smartphone market has been chipped away at for years, but next year the company might actually call it quits. That’s right, LG has officially confirmed that it’s considering leaving the smartphone market in 2022. A report earlier this week from The Elec (since deleted) claimed that LG higher-ups had notified employees of the potential plans, but LG representatives flat…
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MobileNews

OxygenOS 11 Open Beta 1 now available for OnePlus 7/7T series

January 20, 2021
After what has felt like an extended wait, the OxygenOS 11 Open Beta 1 is now rolling out for the OnePlus 7 and 7T series bringing with it all of the Android 11 trappings and features. OnePlus confirmed that we would see OxygenOS 11 on the OnePlus 7 and 7T series at some…
MobileNews

Google Store stops selling the two-year-old Pixel USB-C earbuds

January 20, 2021
With the launch of the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL in 2018, Made by Google also released a pair of USB-C earbuds for $29.99. After two years on sale, the Pixel USB-C earbuds are no longer available for purchase from the Google Store and other retailers. The Pixel USB-C earbuds…
MobileNews

Google Messages may stop working on ‘uncertified’ Android devices in March

January 20, 2021
With unique features like RCS messaging and a handy web client, Google Messages has become an essential SMS/MMS app for Android. It seems that later this year, Google intends for its Messages app to stop working on uncertified Android devices. About APK Insight: In this “APK Insight” post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we…
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MobileNews

Apple no longer signing iOS 12.5 for older devices, blocking downgrades from iOS 12.5.1

January 20, 2021
Apple today stopped signing iOS 12.5, which is available for older iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad models. This comes after the company released iOS 12.5.1 for these devices last week with bug fixes for the COVID-19 exposure notification feature. Although iOS 12 was released over two years ago, Apple still offers security updates for devices such as the iPhone 5s and iPhone 6 as they can’t run…
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