Snapchat and Instagram remove Giphy integration over racial slur GIF

After Instagram, Snapchat  recently integrated Giphy for GIFs. However, both the companies have temporarily removed their Giphy GIF sticker feature after users noticed a racial slur GIF which was an option to add to their images.  Since the GIF is found both on Instagram and Snapchat, it is Giphy that is at fault here. Giphy appears to have removed the GIF in question as it’s no longer available on Instagram. The company also confirmed that it had removed the GIF from its side, but might take some time for it to reflect all users. TechCrunch has received a screenshot from a user who has spotted the GIF which is very disturbing. Giphy has officially taken the blame for the bug and allowing the offensive GIF through. With such racial content found on Instagram, Facebook is under pressure and needs to access the content that is found on Facebook’s Messenger Kids app which also has Giphy integration but only allowed to show G-rated imagery. Snapchat, on the other hand, confirmed that it has removed the offensive GIF and said: We have removed GIPHY from our application until we can be assured that this will never happen again. This type of content has no place on Instagram. We have stopped our integration with Giphy ...

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 Pro users facing gaming, camera and other software issues

Last week, we reported that newly launched Redmi Note 5 Pro had Low Volume output via Headphones issue, and Xiaomi quickly addressed the issue and rolled out MIUI 9.2.5.0 and updated security patch to February as well. Now, one of our readers tweeted saying that he is facing issue while playing some games on his Redmi Note 5 Pro, and phone was asking him to press R and L button on his gamepad while playing Modern Combat 5 and Sniper Fury but gamepad was not connected to the phone. We tried verifying the issue on our device but we had no issue in running Modern Combat 5 on our device, We looked on Mi Community India to see if other users are facing the issue and we found that multiple users are facing the issue and seeking the resolution from company. Some Redmi Note 5 users also posted saying that they are facing similar issue on their devices. A user posted, There is this bug with MIUI 9 that automatically adds a game controller to all games that support a controller. I have tried modern combat 5 myself and the game automatically detects a controller and hence disables the on screen controller ...

LG V30 update with ThinQ AI camera, Q Lens, Q voice and more rolling out starting from Korea

LG introduced the V30s ThinQ at the MWC 2018 with integrated AI features like AI CAM, QLens and more. It also mentioned that these features would make their way to the original V30 and V30+. Keeping with the promise, LG has finally started rolling out the update to Korean users. A V30+ user who is also an Android Police reader in Korea has received an update that the ThinQ features. LG V30S ThinQ and 256GB V30S+ ThinQ were launched in Korea last week falling in line with the update cycle. The update is of an 821MB size with decently long changelog and other fixes. Since the changelog is in Korean, Android Police did a Google translate to get us more details. According to the changelog, the LG V30 update brings Q Lens, AI Camera, Bright Camera, Q Voice, and Google Assistant in the camera app, improved fingerprint recognition for KakaoBank. While charging or booting, random restarts have been fixed, Google Drive now gets support for downloading files larger than 4GB. Vibrations will happen more consistently while receiving texts or calls and finally, it now has improved the call quality. Furthermore, the user also stated that the new ThinQ branding shows up on the boot screen (G V30+ ThinQ" instead of "LG V30). ...

Alexa’s new Follow-Up mode can now handle back-to-back requests

Alexa has a habit of making users say, Alexa, over-and-over for every back-to-back request. However, those days are now gone as Amazon has introduced a new follow-up mode that can now handle back-to-back requests which is aimed at making conversations feel more natural. This is a new opt-in feature which will allow Alexa to listen for five seconds after responding to your first query. And if the blue indicator light is on even after Alexa answers your first question, it is an indication that Alexa is ready for a follow-up question. If you have nothing else to say, Alexa will go into sleep mode and will be triggered once you say the hotword "Alexa." The new Follow-Up mode is available on all Alexa-enabled devices, like the Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Spot. Alexa's follow-up mode won't work unless it is confident you’re speaking to it and if it is a legitimate request, according to Amazon. It will be interesting to see how Alexa distinguishing between the legitimate request and a background noise. Like always, you can end the conversation just by saying 'thank you.' Source

Android Wear could be renamed to Wear OS

Google's wearable OS aka Android Wear could possibly be renamed to Wear OS in the coming days. According to a Reddit post by user H3x0n, during the setup of an Android Wear watch, the user was greeted with a new icon and Wear OS name for the operating system. The new icon 'W' has Google's trademark color scheme which looks very similar to the Android Assistant logo and the logo of Warner Bros. The latter might be coincidental. However, the W stands for Wear OS and not to be confused with Apple's watchOS. Google recently re-branded its Google Pay to Android Pay. It could be possible that Google might officially announce the re-branding at the I/O 2018 event. Since this is just a screenshot posted by the Reddit user, we don't really have any other details about any feature changes or additions that might be lying beneath just yet. We will have to wait for Google to make it official. Source | Via

Motorola confirms Moto Z-series will stay despite layoffs

A couple of days ago we heard that Motorola is canceling the Moto X series and trimming down on the Moto Mods. With Moto View Finder VR headset in the pipeline, the news was rather confusing. However, today Motorola parent company Lenovo has finally confirmed that the Moto Z family will continue. Lenovo back in 2017 has mentioned that worldwide resource action could occur in the next several quarters that might have an impact less than 2% of its global workforce. Now the layoff and trim down of its workforce in Chicago are a continuation of that process. Motorola in a statement said, "We are reducing our Motorola operations in Chicago however this did not impact half of our workforce there and our Moto Z family will continue." Despite the leak in January, it looks like the Moto X5 will never make it. But the Moto Z series looks strong and the upcoming Z-phone will come with a 6-inch FHD+ (18:9) display and might be powered by the  Snapdragon 845 with 4GB RAM or even more. It will also come with an all-new 5G Moto Mod. Source 1, 2

OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T Android 8.1 Oreo OxygenOS beta update starts rolling out

OnePlus 5 got the Android 8.0 (Oreo) update earlier this year and the OnePlus 5T got the Oreo update last month. Now the company has started rolling out OxygenOS Open Beta 6 and Open Beta 4 for the 5 and 5T, respectively that brings Android 8.1 Oreo for both. This also brings new Gaming mode optimizations, new auto pickup gesture for incoming call and the OnePlus Switch has been updated to support migration of application data. Check out the complete changelog for both OnePlus 5 and 5T Updated system to Android 8.1 Oreo Phone New auto pick up gesture answer an incoming call by raising the phone System General bug fixes and improvements Added more clock styles for ambient display Optimized full-screen gesture support (Only for 5T) Updated Android security patch to 2018-02 Gaming mode Added new optimizations in gaming mode for immersive gaming experience including power saving and pausing adaptive brightness OnePlus Switch Added support to migrate application data, allowing you to switch between devices seamlessly The update is about 1.6GB for both and also includes Android security patch for February 2018. If you’ve already flashed a previous Open Beta build, you will receive this update via OTA. If you haven’t, you will need to flash this manually by downloading it from downloads.oneplus.net. Source 1, 2

Huawei Nova 3e with FullView display, dual rear cameras to be announced on March 20

Huawei today sent out invites for the announcement of Nova 3e, a new smartphone in the Nova series in China on March 20th, ahead of the announcement of P20 series, including the P20 Lite in Paris on March 27th. Last month @evleaks said that the P20 Lite will be sold in certain markets as the Nova 3e. The phone got certified in China recently with model numbers and ANE-TL00 and ANE-AL00. The invite also teases the FullView display with a notch and minimal bezels. Live image revealed DUAL LENS 1:2.2/26 ASPH camera for the phone, same as the P20 Lite that surfaced in press renders recently. Huawei Nova 3e / P20 Lite rumored specifications 5.84-inch (1080 x 2280 pixels) Full HD+ 2.5D curved glass display Octa-Core Kirin 659 processor (4 xA53 at 2.36GHz + 4 x A53 at 1.7GHz) with MaliT830-MP2 GPU 4GB RAM with 64GB storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Android 8.0 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.0 16MP rear camera with LED flash, Hybrid zoom, secondary 2MP camera 24MP front-facing camera Fingerprint sensor Dimensions: 148.6×71.2×7.4mm; Weight: 145g 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS / GLONASS 3000mAh (typical) / 2900mAh (Minimum) battery The Huawei Nova 3e is expected to come in Blue, Black, Rose Gold and ...

Sony Xperia R1 and Xperia R1 Plus Android 8.0 Oreo update starts rolling out in India

Sony Mobile launched Xperia R1 and Xperia R1 Plus, two new mid-range smartphones exclusively in India last October running Android 7.1 (Nougat), and the company at the launch said that the phones will be upgraded to Android 8.0 (Oreo). As promised, the company has started rolling out the update for the smartphones earlier this week.  [HTML1] Android 8.0 Oreo update brings features like reminders for unfinished tasks such as emails in drafts and messages. It brings a new feature called Xperia actions which intelligently suggests actions based on your usage with all new games and community features. It brings contextual menus for app shortcuts which on long pressing will show more options. The update will also include Oreo default features like notification channels, improvements including Background limits, Snooze notifications, Picture in Picture (PIP) display and more. The Sony Xperia R1 and Xperia R1 Plus Android 8.0 Oreo update has build number S001011_180224. On the official Sony forum, some users are reporting Wi-fi SSID connection and some third-party app crashes after Oreo update.

Weekly Roundup: Xiaomi Mi TV 4A, Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ and more

This week Samsung launched its flagship Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ smartphones in India, Xiaomi launched its new Mi TV 4A series, LG introduces new OLED and SUPER UHD HDR TV line-up and Samsung introduced its QLED TV and Premium UHD TV line-up, and more in this week's roundup. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQavc9GS03I Samsung  launched the  Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, the company’s latest flagship smartphones at an event in India. These were introduced at the MWC last week and have variable aperture cameras. The S9 has a 12-megapixel rear camera with variable aperture tech that uses f/1.5 aperture for night shots for a brighter picture and f/2.4 aperture for normal shots in daytime. The S9+ has a secondary 12MP Telephoto lens for live focus for bokeh effect with background blur. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEE1tqBWvtI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYi1V_sB9cU&t=1s The Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will be available in Midnight Black, Coral Blue and Lilac Purple colors in India and are available for pre-order exclusively on Flipkart as well as Samsung Shop online and offline starting at Rs. 57,900. It will start shipping from March 16th. Samsung at its New York event has introduced array of QLED, UHD and Premium UHD TVs. The company says that the TVs come with groundbreaking design elements, enhanced picture quality, and smart, intuitive capabilities. The new QLED TV features Direct Full Array, Bixby ...