Earlier this week, OPPO launched its latest smartphone, the Oppo F17 Pro Diwali Edition, in India. This new model has identical specifications as the original Oppo F17 Pro that the company launched in India last month. Now, the smartphone is already on sale in India since October 23 for ₹23,990. It comes with a new Oppo F17 Pro Matte Gold model and all other colors of the original model, which include green and blue colors with a matte texture.
This Diwali Oppo is offering additional accessories in the Diwali gift box, which makes this model slightly more expensive. The gift box includes a Diwali Exclusive back case cover and an Oppo 10,000mAh power bank (18W). The Diwali Edition is available on Amazon for sale already, and you can place an order right now.
Oppo F17 Pro Diwali Edition Sale Details
The sale of Oppo F17 Pro Diwali Edition started on October 23 in India and is priced at ₹23,990. Oppo is offering a special gift box exclusively for its Indian customers that includes a 10,000mAh power bank and a customized back cover along with the Diwali Edition F17 Pro. Also, the customers can get a chance to win exclusive gifts worth ₹2,990 and a one-time screen replacement with the gift box.
Oppo F17 Pro Specs
Image courtesy: Oppo
The Oppo F17 Pro is powered by a MediaTek Helio P95 SoC paired with 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. It features a 6.43-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED punch-hole display with a 60Hz refresh rate and an aspect ratio of 20:9. The device packs a 4,000mAh battery inside and comes with 30W fast charging support and a USB Type-C port.
In terms of optics, the F17 Pro features a rear quad-camera setup, which includes a 48MP primary camera, 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens, 2MP monochrome sensor, and a 2MP portrait camera. At the front, the punch hole houses a 16MP camera for taking selfies and video calling.
Samsung is tipped to launch Galaxy F12 or F12s, the second phone of the “F” line-up soon in India. As of now, there is only one Galaxy product in this series, Samsung Galaxy F41.
Image Courtesy: GizmoChina
The name of the upcoming phone is not confirmed yet. However, a phone with the model number SM-F127G has leaked. Therefore, it is believed the upcoming smartphone will be called Samsung Galaxy F12 or Galaxy F12s.
Weirdly enough Samsung Galaxy F41, which was recently released on October 16, 2020, in India is just the rebranded Galaxy M31. Moreover, there is no intel about the details or any other specifications about the Galaxy F12 (or F12s).
But there is a bit of chance that the upcoming Samsung smartphone could be another rebranded Samsung smartphone. Most probably Samsung Galaxy M21.
Samsung Galaxy M21 is a mid-range smartphone that comes in two variants of 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage and 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. Talking about the hardware, the phone runs on Exynos 9611 chipset. It also sports a 6.4-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display. Talking about the optics, it pairs a 48 megapixels primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultrawide sensor, and a 5-megapixels depth sensor along with 20 megapixels selfie shooter.
The upcoming smartphone might come in a gradient color option like Samsung did in Galaxy F41. The budget-segment phone will be a close competitor to its rivals. There is no information about the availability of this phone but it is likely to release soon. AndroidFist will keep you updated as soon as we get new information.
Google is working continuously to add key functionalities to YouTube Music after the company announced the shutdown of its popular music app — the Google Play Music. The technology giant has reportedly added a playlist button to the YouTube Music app for Android Auto and now lets users play uploaded tracks. Many users took to Reddit to announce the news of the addition of this new functionality.
Earlier, the YouTube Music in Android Auto required a paid Premium membership to access. Previously, this functionality was not available for free users. Now, it lets free users access and play uploaded songs on Android Auto.
Use Google Assistant to Play Songs From Playlist
Since this glaring feature was previously not available for free users, now your library will appear in the YouTube Music app for Android Auto. Users can access this feature and play tracks using Google Assistant voice commands too. For example, to access the feature, you can speak the voice command, “Okay Google, play my <playlist name> playlist on YouTube Music.” You can also specify the name of a song in the Assistant voice command.
As per a Reddit post by a user named Denziley, the Android Auto app now displays a button for user playlists. Similarly, another user by the name Stoney2333 spotted that free tier users can now play their own uploaded songs on Android Auto. Other users in the thread also wrote what voice commands work to make use of this feature.
Though this addition may seem small, but it was something that free users will surely love. Because the free tier is very poor as compared to other alternatives, the addition of this feature was a much-needed step. YouTube Music has already rolled out the feature to a wider audience on both car head units and the Android Auto app on smartphones.
Xiaomi has announced officially that it has opened its first official Mi Store in the Arctic Circle. The newly-opened Mi Store is located in the Russian city of Murmansk and is the company’s northernmost offline retail point in the world. The company announced the news through a blog post on October 23. The store, located in Murmansk Mall, has an area of over 80 square meters that provides the company’s latest lineup of smartphones and other smart hardware.
The Chinese smartphone maker has over 150 official points of sale in Russia, and the new store adds another number into the fleet. According to Xiaomi, the store in Arctic Circle joins a fleet of 151 official points of sale in Russia under the Preferred Partner Program.
Xiaomi Has Plans to Open More Stores in Russia
Image courtesy: Xiaomi
Xiaomi has indicated that it will open some 60 exclusive Xiaomi stores in Russia in the coming years. This decision comes after the company signed a new partnership with Inventive Retail. Yu Man, Head of Russia and CIS, Xiaomi said in a statement, “We are so excited and thankful to our partner for an amazing opportunity to make this dramatic northbound move. Xiaomi’s chain of offline stores in Russia now covers 10 timezones, and my heart fills with happiness when I see more and more Mi Fans and consumers get closer to innovations we provide.”
As per Xiaomi, the company’s Murmansk retail point has become one of the most loved shopping venues among local residents. Also, according to a survey by Online Market Intelligence, Xiaomi ranks 7th on the list of Russia’s Most Loved Brands this year, ie., 2020. The smartphone brand has moved one position higher from last year.
Till September-end this year, Xiaomi has more than 700 offline Mi Stores in overseas markets other than India. In India, the Chinese technology giant has over 11,000 official points of sale.
All Android phones come with at least one built-in music player and if not that, Google Play Music is always there (wink). But if you are looking for some change or advanced features that a preloaded music player won’t offer, Google Play Store is plentiful, to be honest. Look to your right or left and you’ll find a music player app on the app store waiting to be downloaded. Perhaps finding the good ones can be a task. Turns out we got your back, we did all the research so that you don’t have to do it. Here are the 8 best music player apps for Android that you look out for.
8 Best Music Player Apps for Android
1. Spotify
Image Courtesy: Spotify (Google Play Store)
Price: Free | Pro at $9.99/mo | Family at $14.99
OS: Android
Popularity: 500M+ Downloads
New music or old, rare or common, be it of any genre, Spotify has it all. Spotify is one of the largest music streaming services offering 50M+ songs and podcasts. Spotify has the music of every kind spanning across 4 billion playlists which are its backbone. You can stream music online or subscribe to its premium plan for offline streaming. Spotify is almost at the top of the hierarchy when it comes to best music players apps for Android. You can create your playlists, discover new music across genres.
Search by albums, artists, genre, or title and I am pretty sure you’ll get what you are looking for. Its premium plan offers an ad-free listening experience, greater sound quality & offline downloads all you want. Its premium subscription commences at $9.99/mo, a family of six at $14.99/mo. It is a newfangled music player for someone who hasn’t tried any music streaming app yet.
Poweramp has been around for years on Google Play Store. It has evolved with a ton of new features actively added by its developers. It recently got the support for Hi-Res output, an upgraded UI, and a few others. Poweramp has a powerful EQ so that you can tweak it to make all your existing audio files sound great. It has features like gapless smoothing, 3rd party skins, and a great set of visualizations on-board.
Poweramp supports a plethora of audio formats which include mp4, m4a, FLAC, OFG, WV, WMA, OCA, and others. It does have lyric support so that you don’t miss out on what your favorite artists are actually singing rather upon searching for lyrics separately. Search by tags or run through its ultrafast library scan, Poweramp can take it all. Poweramp is available with a 15-days free trial. Upgrading to its premium plan would set you off at $3.99.
Image Courtesy: JetAudio HD Music Player (Google Play Store)
Price: Free | Pro at $3.99
OS: Android
Popularity: 10M+ Downloads
Rated as one of the best music player apps for Android, JetAudio HD stays true to its title. Play all your local or downloaded music or stream it from network drive with this app. It has a tonne of features appended on it. JetAudio HD can play numerous file types including WV, m4a, Ogg, mp3, FLAC, and so on. It has 32 Equalizer.presets that widely enhance your listening experience. Use its Tag Editor to find the music faster. It has 3 lock screen widgets to choose from and control your music when your phone is locked.
It also supports gapless playback and crossfading among other audio-related functionalities. Shake to play next and JetAudio HD will do it for you. If you are looking for a free music player with an option to upgrade, JetAudio HD is great. It has a premium subscription at a cheap deal of just $3.99.
Image Courtesy: Amazon Prime Music (Google Play Store)
Price: Free | Unlimited at $7.99/mo (Prime), $9.99/mo (non-Prime) | $79/yearly (Prime) to $99/yearly (non-Prime)
OS: Android
Popularity: 100M+ Downloads
I doubt that you never heard about Amazon Prime Music before. It’s a free (plus paid) music streaming app that allows listening to both local and online songs. You get limitless podcasts on Amazon Music too.
Amazon Music has cool scrolling lyrics so you can do karaoke all you want. Its Alexa-specific features are uncanny and you can stream music via Bluetooth and Chromecast too. It does have a few shortcomings such as a limited song library on its free version and lacks non-music content if you are a fan of it. Overall, Amazon Music gets an upper hand as one of the best music player apps for Android without any doubt.
You can get Amazon Music Unlimited at $7.99/mo. Amazon Music comes as a bundled service with Amazon Prime at $99/year. This includes Amazon Prime Delivery among others. Moreover, Amazon Music offers a plus plan to unlock 60M+ songs. It’s “HD” plan unlocks 60M+ songs in HD quality with Hi-Res quality and 24-bit.
Image Courtesy: PI Music Player (Google Play Store)
Price: Free | Contains Ads | Offers In-app Purchases | Pro at $0.99
OS: Android
Popularity: 10M+ Downloads
Certainly one of the best music players for Android hands down, Pi Music Player is a way to go. The app is equipped with a plethora of advanced features. It doesn’t just let you listen to music but lets you edit it as well. It has a floating player embedded with it for videos that ease multitasking. It has a Power Saving Mode that optimizes battery usage. It has a 5-band equalizer with 25 presets, 3D-Reverb Effects, Virtualizer, and Bass Boost at your disposal.
Choose between four themes with intuitive controls and more. Pi Music Player is free to use and offers a tonne of optional in-app purchases. It does contain ads although it’s just a bit of compromise over the app you get to use for free. It is perhaps termed as a solid competitor in the music player category of apps. If you have a phone full of music libraries and you don’t want to go online, try Pi Music Player and groove to the music offline.
Image Courtesy: Pulsar Music Player (Google Play Store)
Price: Free | Pro at $4.99
OS: Android:
Popularity: 5M+ Downloads
If you don’t like the bells and whistles of your existing music player, Pulsar is at your service. It is a minimalist music player available with an intriguing ad-free experience. With Pulsar Music Player, you get a tonne of features including crossfade, gapless playback, tag editing, and others. Available in 36 different languages, the music player ensures you don’t lose out on using the powerful app. Although strapped with limited features even on its Pro version, Pulsar Music Player is a must-try.
It has a replay gain volume normalization feature. It has Android Auto, Chromecast, and Google voice commands support to count a few. Overall, Pulsar is a good-looking & best music player apps for Android with all you need on-board. It is a pretty cheap pro subscription plan that you can subscribe to if you want to extend its functionalities. This includes a 5-band EQ controller, bass booster, 9 pre-built EQ presets among others.
Image Courtesy: BlackPlayer Music Player (Google Play Store)
Price: Free | Offers In-App Purchases | EX Pro at $3.59
OS: Android
Popularity: 1M+ Downloads
Another great application if you are looking for a music player is BlackPlayer. It is a free-to-use music player that you can use to play unlimited local content with ease. BlackPlayer has a modern yet minimalistic Material Design that adds to its USP. It supports various audio file formats that include FLAC, MP3, OGG among others.
The music player supports 5-Band Equalizer with Amplifier, 3D Surround Virtualizer, and BassBoost. It also supports gapless audio playback. You can add up to 3 widgets to control music on the go. Set up a sleep timer so that the app shuts down after a certain duration that you can set up. There’s embedded lyrics, ID3 tag editor, support to Android Auto, and Wear OS among others. A Pro version adds a string of new features at a nominal price tag.
Musicolet is a free-to-use music player app for Android. It can play various file formats although just local audio files so you can’t download or stream anything. But hey, don’t think any less of Musicolet because it is a lightweight and powerful music player that you can try. With a minimalistic design and simple GUI, it adds to its USP. It is one of the handful of music player apps capable of forming multiple queues. You can create a maximum of 20 queues with it.
Musicolet offers Tag Editor+ as well as folder browsing. It has gapless playback support and earphone controls allowing users to pause/play/next songs via earphones. It is equipped with features like sleep timers, widgets, Android auto support, dark theme, and more. Get embedded lyrics, a non-sensible music listening experience with one of the best music player apps for Android.
That concludes our list of 8 best music player apps for Android that you must try. Some of these apps are free while some require one-time or recurring payments but it’s worth it if you are an audiophile. Let us know which app from the list above actually blew the alarm and also which one pissed you off in the past.
Earlier this week the popular smartphone maker OnePlus started rolling out the system update for its latest smartphone, the OnePlus 8T, in India. Now, the company is rolling out the OxygenOS update for its OnePlus 7 series [1] and the OnePlus 7T [2] smartphones. This update addresses some of the bugs found in last month’s update that featured September 2020 security patches.
For OnePlus 7 and 7 Pro, the company is now pushing the OxygenOS 10.3.6 [India & Global]. However, the OxygenOS 10.0.9 [EU] will soon follow the India & Global updates. On the other hand, the OnePlus 7T will first receive OxygenOS 10.3.6 [India], and then the OxygenOS 10.0.14 [EU & Global] will follow. You must note that this is a staged rollout, and it may take some time to reach all users.
Changelog for Latest OxygenOS
The changelog for the latest OxygenOS update for both the OnePlus 7 series and OnePlus 7T is almost the same, except with a few additional fixes in the OnePlus 7T. Here is what you get in the latest system update:
System
“Newly added user assistance feature to help user master usage skills quickly (Route: Settings>OnePlus Tips & Support)
Optimized power consumption of the system and improve user experience
Fixed the issue that the alarm clock does not ring in certain scenarios
Fixed the unstable issue with Messages in special cases
Fixed the flashback issue with some third-party apps
Fixed known issues and improved system stability
Updated Android Security Patch to 2020.09“
As you can see in the changelog, there are only a few changes done to the system. The smartphone maker has fixed some issues from the previous update and updated the Android security patch to September 2020. The additional fixes for the OnePlus 7T include the issues with the alarm clock and Messages.
OnePlus points that the latest OxygenOS update is currently available to select users only. Other OnePlus 7 series and OnePlus 7T users should expect the latest OTA soon.
Dirt 5, an upcoming off-road racing video game developed by Codemasters, is all set to release on November 6, 2020 and packs many new modes and other features.
Dirt series is best known for its many high-end racing modes. This time the company has introduced three new party modes.
Following are the new party modes in Dirt 5:
1. Vampire
Vampire mode was first revealed by Codemasters in the Playground trailer in August. In vampire mode, one driver is a vampire, indicated by red ghoul headlight whose aim is to chase all the racers and turn them into a vampire too. The rest of the racers trying to escape, their aim is to run, drive fast and be uncaught till dawn.
2. King
In King mode, all the racers turn into a target. There are two crowns in this mode and the racers who come in contact with the car having crown gets it. The car having a crown must avoid encountering other cars as it leaves a trail of coins so that other players can follow and try to get the crown. The racer gets the points each time it gets crown.
3. Transporter
This mode is quite similar to King’s mode, as the racer must pick and defend an object. Except for the racer, having an object must drop it to a particular destination without opening it and encountering any other racer. The longer you carry the object more points you get. Also, the racer who touches the car carrying an object not only gets the object but also extra points. The key to success in Transporter mode is strategy, skill, and timing.
Image Courtesy: Codemasters
Apart from party mode, Dirt 5’s online multiplayer will include up to 10 locations with breath-taking scenarios. However, all the online multiplayer modes will support up to 12 players only. Moreover, you also earn currency each time you compete in multiplayer mode. This currency will enable you to unlock new cars, personalization items, player cards, stickers, and much more.
The upcoming game will also include a huge variety of 63 cars in the following categories Classic Rally, 80s Rally, 90s Rally, Modern Rally, Pre Runners, Cross Raid, Rally Cross, Rally GT, Rock Bouncer, Sprint, Super Lites, Formula off-road, and Unlimited. Besides that, more cars will be added to the game after its launch.
The game will be available for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox X/S, Xbox One, Windows, and Google Stadia.
Also, Dirt 5 has cross-gen support. Meaning if you play it on PS5 and play it with someone on PS4, you can do it. However, the company does not provide cross-platform support, so you won’t be able to play with PC, Xbox, or any other platform player if you’re playing on PS5 or some different platform.
The game is all set to release on November 6, 2020, for PS4 and on November 12, 2020, for PS5. In PS5, the game will come with next-gen enhancements such as DualSense controller integration and 120fps options.
Google has just announced a new Google Fi phone subscription program through which it will sell you a new Pixel 4a smartphone every two years. As a part of the new Google Fi phone subscription program, you can buy a new $349 Pixel 4a from Google for just $9 per month over two years. This will save subscribers $133 over 24 months and get the smartphone for just $216. To put it simply, just pay Google the phone subscription program fees for 24 months and own a new Pixel 4a.
Google Fi is a program and offered by Google that provides a fast and easy wireless experience to US residents. Google has partnered with leading carriers and hardware makers to provide telecommunication services that help people stay connected. The new subscription program focuses on allowing users to upgrade their phones, and the subscription starts at just $15 per month.
Google Fi New Phone Subscription Program Details
The new Google Fi phone subscription program starts for just $15 per month that includes a $6 per month device protection plan and the $9 per month phone subscription plan. With this, the plan subscribers will save $133 over 24 months and get the Pixel 4a device at the end of two years. You can also pair the phone subscription program with other Google Fi plans, such as Fi Flexible plan or Fi Unlimited plan, to connect with friends and family. The device protection lets you get the device replacement or repair for damage from cracks, spills, and more.
Currently, Google is only selling the Pixel 4a through the new subscription and not the new Pixel 5 or Pixel 4a 5G. However, the Pixel 4a is quite good in terms of camera and battery. It features a camera that takes great low-light photos and a battery that lasts for up to 24 hours.
Since this year’s holiday shopping is starting earlier than usual, retailers have now started promoting their discounts online. In view of this, Google is offering more ways for both shoppers and retailers in the U.S. to make the most out of this holiday season. As the search engine giant is making it easier for shoppers to find the best deals from various sellers, it is also helping retailers to capture increased holiday demand by making it easier and faster to apply for product promotions. Google is providing new tools for retailers to boost their visibility to new customers and uncover meaningful insights.
As Google is helping both the parties — the resellers and the customers — we will brief you about what the tech giant is offering this holiday season. However, the company is making these new features available to customers and businesses in the United States only.
Help Retailers Maximize Exposure and Track
Image courtesy: Google Blog
Google is making promotions available to all U.S. retailers and is also proving faster approval times for the promotions during this holiday season. This will help retailers maximize exposure of their deals and better react to shopper demand. One significant change that Google is doing to increase the visibility of the products is — adding promotions to more surfaces across Google.
“We’re also expanding our promotions to more surfaces across Google. Products on promotion will now have an annotation when they appear on both free listings and ads in the Shopping tab, Google Images (mobile-only), and local inventory ads on Search,” said Bill Ready, President, Commerce (Google). It will not make shoppers see promotions in more places on Google, like Search, Images, Shopping, etc.
Earlier this year, Google had announced that retailers can now list their products on Google for free around the world. But now, the company has said that verified retail merchants in the U.S. can now directly add the links of their Business Profile to their online store. In addition, Google provides tools like Performance Planner to help retailers plan their budgets effectively, and now it is bringing auction insights next month.
New Features on Google Shopping for Shoppers
Image courtesy: Google Blog
To help U.S. shoppers take advantage of the best deals, Google has added new features to Google Shopping. These include price insights, price comparison, and price tracking features on the product page. The shopping tab now lets shoppers compare prices across the web and show the best deal available for them. From here, shoppers can also view various price, purchase, and shipping options from a range of stores, with both online and local options.
Google today announced that Google Arts & Culture has partnered with the National Museum in New Delhi to showcase miniature paintings in a magical new way. The tech giant will showcase these special works of art using machine learning, AR, and high-definition robotic cameras. Google says it is “inspired from domes and hallways that punctuate Indian homes and public spaces. This is the first AR-powered art gallery designed with traditional Indian architecture, adds the company.
Miniature paintings typically tackle profound themes such as love, power, and faith, despite being compact. These have a very small size, such as that of a small book. Also, paintings are among the most beautiful, technically-advanced, and most sophisticated art forms in the Indian culture.
Enjoy Virtual Tour of the Halls of a Pocket Gallery
Image courtesy: Google Blog
Google has designed the virtual AR-powered art gallery based on traditional Indian way of building spaces. People can wander the halls of the pocket gallery through their smartphones. Simon Rein, the Programme Manager at Google Arts & Culture said, “Using your smartphone, you can open up a life-size virtual space, walk around at your leisure and zoom into your favorite pieces — you have this beautiful museum to yourself!”
These compact paintings are rich in detailed rendition of topics that have shaped Indian culture for ages. But now, with the help of machine learning, people can discover these features across a collection of these paintings. Google says that it has used the ultra-high-resolution robotic camera to produce high-quality, and most vivid images of the paintings.
Image courtesy: Google Blog
Google has created over 75 in-painting tours to help people value every little detail in the painting. Things like wisps of smoke that one could see or a variety of attires that a person wears in a royal procession catch the eye of the viewer. The collection of these Indian art forms includes 1,200 high-resolution images from 25 collections all around the world. These contain more than 75 stories that depict scenes of battles, marriage processions, nature and many more. Curious minds, students and families will find playful and educational ways to enjoy the world of Indian miniatures, such as an interactive coloring book, says Google.
