HMD Global announced today that the official, stable Android 12 update for Nokia X20 is rolling out to its customers.
Roll out includes Europe, but might also include other territories. After the disaster with Android 11 update schedule, it seems that HMD Global, the manufacturer of Nokia branded phones, tries to win back its audience. Company originally was the first major Android OEM to push speedy Android updates to its users and had a (back then) one of the longest support lifecycles for its phones.
Nokia X20 was released in April, 2021 and HMD Global has promised that the phone will get Android 12, Android 13 and Android 14 before its support runs out.
There has never been an universal, true way to measure websites' traffic, but one site has managed to make it almost a reality for quarter of a century.
Alexa.com has been around since 1996 and has provided relatively accurate information on how popular each website/domain in the world is. Surely, it has always been relatively flawed metric, as the measurement data is based on various browser extensions and toolbars - thus, typically harming the rankings of sites with more security-conscious users.
Nevertheless, Alexa has provided a decent take on which websites are gaining popularity and which are declining. Alexa has been traditionally one of the key metrics that was included on Wikipedia pages about websites and web services.
Alexa.com was bought by Amazon back in 1999, but Amazon decided to keep the service running as it was for years and years, even tho it didn't exactly fit to its other businesses very well.
But now, Amazon has decided to call it quits. Alexa.com service will be discontinued as of 1st of May, 2022.
Alexa has provided professional SEO services, too and those are coming to an end as well. New subscriptions can't be bought and the old ones will cease when the Alexa itself will be shut down.
OnePlus has started its Android 12 OTA rollout for its most recent high-end models, namely, OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro.
Company hasn't announced the update officially yet, but both, XDA-Developers and Android Update Tracker confirms that the update has begun rolling out.
The changes since the previous Android 12 beta aren't big, but for those jumping directly from Android 11 to Android 12, even the visible changes are quite significant. OnePlus' OxygenOS 12 is merging slowly with its parent company's - Oppo's - ColorOS, so the design and UX changes are gearing towards that goal.
The OTA rollout is phased, as it often is, so you might not see the update available yet on your own handset. But we assume the Android 12 OTA will be available for most customers by end of the week. Those who use locked handset, the OTA might get delayed further.
OnePlus plans to release Android 12 also to several other models: OnePlus 7 series, OnePlus 8 series and many Nord models should get the update. For full list of phones promised to get the update, a href="https://www.androidupdatetracker.com/m/oneplus/12">refer this page.
We just received an updated timeline from Samsung about their Android 12 rollout schedule. The new timeline contains more handsets than those lists previously released by Samsung. List also adjusts the release schedule slightly for some phone models.
The list is based on Samsung's Nordic schedule, so it might or might not apply as it is for the rest of the world. But comparing the list to the one released about a month ago by Samsung's global division, the new list seems to be credible for global rollout, too.
So, here's the full list:
Android 12 already released
Samsung Galaxy S21
Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
Promised before end of the year 2021
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3
January 2022
Samsung Galaxy S10+ (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy S10 5G (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy S10e (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy Fold
Samsung Galaxy Note10 (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy Note 10 5G (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite
Samsung Galaxy Note10 Plus (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus 5G (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G
Samsung Galaxy S20
Samsung Galaxy S20+
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G
Samsung Galaxy Note20
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 5G
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G
February 2022
Samsung Galaxy A52
Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
Samsung Galaxy A72
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+
March 2022
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G
April 2022
Samsung Galaxy A51
Samsung Galaxy A71
Samsung Galaxy A51 5G
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
May 2022
Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 (2020)
Samsung Galaxy Tab Active 3
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite
Samsung Galaxy A32
Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
Samsung Galaxy Xcover Pro (last Android update)
June 2022:
Samsung Galaxy A41 (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy A12 (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy A22
Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite
July 2022
Samsung Galaxy A21s (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy A02s (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy A03s
Samsung Galaxy XCover 5
Other Samsung models
None of the models listed below appear in Samsung's official schedule - not in this new one or in the previous list. But based on what we know about Samsung's update policy and when each phone was released, we assume that these phones should get the Android 12 update, too. But if you have one of these phones, don't get your hopes too high - the updates below have not been officially confirmed by Samsung.
Samsung Galaxy A01 (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy A02 (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy A11 (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy A21 (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy A31 (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy A42 5G
Samsung Galaxy A71 5G
Samsung Galaxy A90 5G (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy A Quantum
Samsung Galaxy F02s (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy F12
Samsung Galaxy F41 (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy F42 5G
Samsung Galaxy F62
Samsung Galaxy M02 (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy M02s (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy M12
Samsung Galaxy M21 (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy M21s (last Android update)
Samsung Galaxy M22
Samsung Galaxy M31
Samsung Galaxy M31 Prime Edition (last Android update)
HMD Global, a company who has licensed the Nokia brand for its Android phones, has failed to keep its promises. Company originally got into Android smartphone business by making Android update schedule promises that were pretty much unheard of back then.
And they actually managed to keep those promises quite nicely. Up until the Android 11 update. Ever since Android 11 rolled out back in September, 2020, HMD Global has been left behind in terms of speedy Android updates. To be fair, also several other companies have struggled with Android 11, too: OnePlus slipped badly from its glorious past and some companies, like Motorola and Asus, have simply abandoned some of their relatively recent models.
But despite delayed updates, HMD Global did state that it will keep its promises of three major Android updates for its existing lineup. And they have delivered - slowly, but still.
But with their most recent phone that could be realistically called as a flagship phone, Nokia 9 PureView, they decided to throw in the towel.
Company announced today that it wont release Android 11 to the Nokia 9 PureView, at all. Instead, company offers 50 percent discount on Nokia XR20 handset - or other level of discount for other X series Nokia models.
Currently, there's a major web outage in the world, as several major web services have been experiencing outages durign the past 45 minutes or so. Affected sites include Google and Spotify.
Spotify's music services are down and even their homepage throws a 404 error when visiting their site. Furthermore, Google's services are currently unavailable, which means that all the mobile games and websites that rely on Google's services, such as login, are experiencing problems too.
DownDetector, a website that monitors the status of major web services shows that problems started about an hour ago.
And obviously, social media is full of reports about the outage with hastags such as #googledown and #spotifydown.
iRobot is the world's largest manufacturer of robotic vacuums. Its robovacs are sold under Roomba brand name globally. The problem is that there are tons of different Roomba models out there and Roomba's naming convention is no straightforward.
In this article, we try to clarify how various Roomba models differ from each other - and also to shine some light on Roomba's odd naming conventions. We have reviewed almost all Roomba models that exist, and thus the opinions mentioned on each model / series are based on our extensive reviews.
First of all, Roomba's naming convention can be confusing. The company has improved its game lately in this particular area, but it still causes confusion to consumers all over the world.
HMD Global, the company that sells Nokia branded Android phones, has finally released the long overdue Android 11 update to two of its mid-range models.
Nokia's Android phones originally hit the market with extremely long update promise and rapid Android updates. Since the launch of Android 11 back in September, 2020, Nokia phones have consistantly failed to deliver that promise.
Android 12 has already been released, but we're still waiting Nokia some phones to get the promised Android 11 update.
However, this week HMD Global did finally deliver Android 11 to two of its mid-range phones: both Nokia 6.2 and Nokia 7.2 got their OTA Android 11 update in many countries.
Only the Nokia's old flagship model, Nokia 9 PureView is still without the Android 11 update (out of the phones that are supposed to get the Android 11).
Taiwanese Asus has published a list of its phone models that will get official Android 12 update, accompanied with a schedule for each update.
Most recent models will get the update first. Asus Zenfone 8 Flip and Asus Zenfone 8 both will receive official Android 12 update in December, 2021. Zenfone 8 has already an open Android 12 beta program, but as the official release is very close, it is highly recommended to sit this one out and wait for the proper release instead.
Next in line are the latest Asus gaming phones: Asus ROG Phone 5 series (ROG Phone 5, ROG Phone 5s and ROG Phone 5s Pro) will all get Android 12 in first quarter of 2022 - meaning that the phones will get the update by end of March, 2022.
Then the rest: Asus Zenfone 7 and Asus Zenfone 7 Pro will get Android in first half of the year 2022 - so, by end of June, 2022. Same applies for Asus ROG Phone 3 and Asus ROG Phone 3 Strix Edition.
So, pretty quick rollout, for most parts. Obviously, people who have older Asus handsets, such as Asus Zenfone 6, will be left in the dust. This has always been Asus style: company doesn't provide very long Android update path. And to be honest, it was quite surprising that Asus even decided to push Android 12 for its ROG Phone 3 series, as ROG Phones typically get only one major Android update.
Vienna museums got tired of social media giants, such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok censoring classical art. None of the major social media platforms allow nudity on their services - and that includes art, even classical and ancient art.
Museums finally got tired of the struggle, while at the same time, they wanted people to be able to enjoy the art they have in the collections. Thus, an ingenious idea was born.
There surely must be a platform that isn't too strict about nudity, but also has massive number of existing users..?
Thus.. Four Vienna museums created a joint OnlyFans account to share their more artwork to the public.
OnlyFans is best known for its adult content, but the platform is actually open for all kinds of content. And in the past, OnlyFans hasn't been keen to censor the content its users share on the platform, as long as it doesn't break any laws.
According to the latest browser market share statistics published by StatCounter, there is currently exactly one country in the world where Google's Chrome is not the most popular browser.
And that country is Nigeria. Even in Nigeria, the change happened only in September, 2021 - before that, Chrome was the #1 browser in Nigeria, too.
In Nigeria, the most popular browser is currently Opera. We had to dig bit deeper to find out the reason for this phenomenom. It seems that the surge of Opera's popularity is down to two factors: most of the net browsing in Nigeria is done by mobile phones. In desktop, Chrome dominates the market also in Nigeria, but as mobile usage is so much bigger in Nigeria than desktop, the desktop market share means much less in big picture.
Secondly, the most popular phone brand in Nigeria is Tecno, a relatively unknown brand outside Africa. Tecno ships most of its phones with Opera pre-installed. And it seems that people are quite happy using the Opera, too. Thus, the pre-installed browsers found in most popular brand's phones managed to do the seemingly impossible task: it overtook Chrome.
Popular image sharing site, Imgur, has been sold to MediaLab.
Imgur, established back in 2009, announced on 27th of September, 2021 that it has been sold to American holding company MediaLab. MediaLab is a Los Angeles-based company that has recently acquired several online brands, most of which have been slightly in decline in terms of their popularity.
Imgur has been known to host viral images and memes and has been particularly popular among Reddit users for years, until Reddit introduced its own image hosting service back in 2016.
Site has been among the most popular online destinations in the world: according to Alexa, it was 112th most popular site in the world as of end of September, 2021.
MediaLab's other acquisitions in recent years include messaging service Kik, anonymous messaging service Whisper and song lyrics database Genius.
According to the official statement by Imgur, MediaLab is committed to fund Imgur's upcoming new services and features.
European Union is getting tired of Apple's own charging cables. EU has tried to lure manufacturers to voluntarily adopt standard charging port in the past, but Apple has refused to participate.
Now, European Commission has proposed a legislation that would require not only Apple's iPhone, but tons of other product categories, too, to start using USB-C as their standard connection.
The proposal would require all smartphones, but also tablets, digital cameras, headphones, portable speakers and handheld game consoles to use USB-C for charging. Proposed legislation would also remove the need for manufacturers to ship their products with chargers. The idea is that once all products use the same, standard charging port, people need much less chargers and thus, removing mandatory chargers from products would reduce also e-waste.
Apple, unsurprisingly, opposes the proposed legislation and says that such measure would curb innovation. Then again, Apple itself uses USB-C in many of its products, including the latest iPad mini and its many of its laptops.
Baltic state Lithuania is urging its citizens to avoid Chinese phones. Country's defence ministry has published a recommendation to Lithuanian citizens advising them to get rid of Chinese phones, if they have one.
The statement was made after it was found that Xiaomi's phones sold in Europe had a built-in censorship mechanism installed in them. The censorship mechanism detects and censors terms such as "Free Tibet" and "democracy movement", Lithuanian state-run cybersecurity body told this week.
Now, Lithuanian Defence Ministry recommends consumers to avoid Chinese mobile phones and even urges them to "throw away" the phones they're currently using if they're made by Chinese brands.
According to Lithuania, even very recent Xiaomi models, such as Xiaomi Mi 10T, included the hidden censorship and detection code. According to Reuters, the detection program was turned off in phones sold in the European Union region, but was present in the phones, nevertheless.
One of the pioneers of the 1980s home computer revolution, Sir Clive Sinclair has died. He was best known for his Sinclair home computers, released in early 1980s. Sinclair computers were extremely popular in many countries back then, even surpassing the other iconic 1980s computer, Commodore 64, in many regions.
Most notable of the 1980s Sinclair computers was - by far - the first Sinclair's color computer, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, released in 1982. It was hugely popular, especially in Sinclair's home country, the United Kingdom, but also in various other countries.
One of the interesting facts about the budget-friendly Sinclair ZX Spectrum is that the computer was so good that several unauthorized clones were made in Eastern European communist countries in 1980s and those clones became de facto home computers behind the Iron Curtain back then. Due this weird history, ZX Spectrum remains one of the most popular demoscene retro computers in Eastern Europe and Russia.