Author: Karan Shah

Karan is an Android enthusiast with very strong views on what devices should be like. Catch him trying to be sarcastic or funny on Twitter and failing at it.
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The Ookla Speedtest app has an easter egg full of cats and here’s how to activate it

We always love it when an app has built-in easter eggs, which each have their own unique style. Apparently, the developers at Ookla, who run speedtest.net, love their cats, and perhaps, hate them too, judging by the easter eggs present in the app. The same service is available as an app on the Play Store, which is linked below.
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The downward battery size trend and battery deterioration

Low battery is the bane of an avid smartphone user’s life. We all have had to face it, be it at class or somewhere out hiking, and in all honesty, running out of power midway in your day is quite frustrating. One of the problems that I have continued to notice is that with each passing year, phones are becoming thinner, essential features are being thrown away (RIP headphone jack), and that batteries are becoming smaller in capacity.

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Xiaomi Roundup: Mi 5X, MIUI 9, and more

Xiaomi tends to make the news every week, with its new launches and one year anniversary in India coming up, there are a ton of new leaks and rumors doing the rounds. Xiaomi tends to keep its big bang releases delayed until the latter half of the year, and that time is almost here.

One of the biggest anticipated news is that of MIUI 9. MIUI is Xiaomi’s take on Android, and it is one of the most controversial skins around, with equal parts of hatred and love going for it. Thus, it is kinda obvious that any news about MIUI 9 is sure to make waves. However, a new device launch is also around the corner. The device touted the Mi 5X, is an incremental step down from the erstwhile flagship. However, it is being targetted towards the young audience, and the threat seeming stems from other Chinese manufacturers that are giving Xiaomi fierce competition in China and India, one of the key markets for these manufacturers.
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Samsung’s Bixby remap block is bypassed yet again

Recently, Samsung pushed an update to the Sprint as well as T-Mobile versions of its software, which blocked the current key remapping applications on the Play Store from changing the default action of the Bixby button present on the Galaxy S8.

With the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S8, we got to try out Samsung’s newest attempt at trying to become what Google does best—a provider of all possible services that you would want to use.

The presence of an extra hardware button is a boon to many. It can be used to launch any application that you want. In fact, Sony devices have had a button to launch the camera or any other application of your choice for a while now. Naturally, many wanted the ability to change the button on the S8 to launch Google Assistant or even Google Now.
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Nokia ties up with Xiaomi, Carl Zeiss: Here’s everything you need to know

Earlier in the week, the HMD Global controlled Nokia announced that it had partnered with Xiaomi to explore a use case of Xiaomi’s home-brewed Surge S1 processor in their smartphone lineup. What is interesting is that this relationship marks the beginning of a symbiotic relationship between Xiaomi and Nokia. Ironically, we have also come full circle, in a sense.

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