News

Xiaomi unveils MIUI 12, here’s everything you need to know

Getting more focused on privacy

Published

April 29, 2020

Shivam Vahia

Xiaomi has revealed its latest iteration of MIUI — MIUI 12. The skin is the face of all Xiaomi phones worldwide, except for the Mi A-series which is part of Google’s Android One project. The brand started out as a software company thanks to MIUI and then shifted to hardware. Hence, it’s no surprise that every year an update is rolled out with much fanfare.

The update brings some useful features along with some appealing UI changes. The recently announced Mi 10 Lite Zoom Edition ships with it out-of-the-box and a range of existing Xiaomi phones shall be getting the update in the coming months. But the prime question remains, what’s new?

Privacy: To improve privacy, they’ve added three new features — Flare, Barbed Wire, and Mask System. Flare are icons that’ll indicate which permissions are being accessed by an app actively. Barbed Wire will destroy sensitive information when sharing documents. Lastly, Mask System will pull up dummy datasets for an app. This comes in handy in case you don’t want it to access your original content like contacts.
Smoother UI: The company says MiRender engine, Folme animation engine, and MAML illustration engine work together to create a fluid user experience. The smoothness comes along with efficient user interaction via the visualization of data.
Dark Mode 2.0: It now has the ability to automatically adjust the contrast and brightness based on lighting.
Super Wallpapers: It includes new live wallpapers of planets and always-on display. When the dark mode is on the planet will also enter the night time, and when a user unlocks the phone, the live wallpaper zooms in from the space view to the aerial view of the planet.
And more: Users will now be able to track activities like walking, running, cycling, and climbing stairs, by just keeping their phones in their pockets. It also gets a new AI calling feature that can also transcribe a particular call and suggest responses.

Devices that will get MIUI 12

The first set of devices that will get the MIUI 12 are: Mi 10 Pro, Mi 10, Mi 9 Pro 5G, Mi 9, Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Edition, Redmi K30 Pro, Redmi K30 5G, Redmi K30, Redmi K20 Pro Premium Edition, Redmi K20 Pro, and Redmi K20.

News

Honor is reportedly working on a 14000mAh battery

How much is too much?

Published

June 25, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Nothing goes together more than a Chinese smartphone brand and the relentless pursuit for a bigger battery. For years, Chinese brands have engaged in a war for this particular component. Now, the latest salvo has been fired. Honor is reportedly working on a phone with a gigantic 14000mAh battery.

Today, the biggest battery capacity you can find on an Honor phone is 11000mAh. The Honor X80 Pro Max already offers a battery that can last you more than a single day. At this point, it’s certainly more than enough for our daily needs.

According to Digital Chat Station on Weibo, a smartphone brand is currently working on a 14000mAh battery. Though the leak does not explicitly pinpoint Honor, the emoji used (a wolf) is historically used to imply the Chinese brand in Weibo parlance.

A 14000mAh is just absurdly huge. With a battery larger than some powerbanks, battery anxiety becomes moot. It’s bordering on “can we bring this on a plane” territory.

As with all rumored features, the next question is when this battery will arrive on a consumer-ready device. Given how serious the battery wars are for the Chinese market, it’s only a matter of time.

News

Nothing Phone (4b) shows up online, spoils some specs

It’s a step below the Phone (4a) series.

Published

June 25, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Yesterday, Nothing officially teased the Phone (4b), an all-new line positioned below the Phone (4a) series. At the time, the teaser revealed nothing but the design of the upcoming phone. However, ahead of its July 7 launch, the Phone (4b) suddenly appeared on Geekbench, spoiling a few of its mysterious specs.

According to the listing, the Phone (4b) will run the SM6650, more popularly known as the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4. It’s a modestly powered processor built for the budget to midrange segments of the performance spectrum. Having this processor does confirm that the phone belongs to the step below the Phone (4a), bringing affordability to a name other than CMF.

Besides the processor, the new phone will come with an Adreno 810 GPU and 8GB of RAM. Inside, it will ship with Android 16 out of the box, but this will likely be upgradeable to Android 17 later this year.

It’s already confirmed that the Phone (4b) will be quite the looker. The phone will slightly depart from the design philosophy of the Phone (4a) series. Though it will still have a sizable rear island, the camera setup will just be a small vertical strip on the top-left corner. Additionally, the lighting element typical of all Nothing phones will be a small horizontal strip on the bottom-right corner.

Thankfully, the wait for more specs won’t be long. Nothing has confirmed that the phone’s launch is set for July 7.

News

Polaroid says, enjoy the beach before AI ruins it

“We know what we stand to lose if we don’t protect it.”

Published

June 25, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Tongue-in-cheek marketing is a soothing balm for a world where false promises are more often advertised. But, what happens when those tongue-in-cheek jokes strike a nerve and make you think, “maybe this isn’t a joke anymore”? Polaroid, a huge proponent of analog technology, has put up such a billboard to enjoy the beach “before the data centers drink it all up.”

Right in front of Coney Island (and right in time for summer), Polaroid has a simple message: “Go jump in the water before the data centers drink it all up.”

Though funny by itself, the message plays on an ongoing fear that today’s data centers, built for AI, have such a high water requirement that each query takes up gallons every time. This is, of course, slightly hyperbolic, but data centers are indeed exerting a lot of pressure on their area’s resources. They take a lot of water for cooling and electricity to keep open.

In a statement, Polaroid says that they’re not anti-digital. Rather, “we know we have to live alongside it, but we’re deeply pro-human and know what humanity gives us. And we know what we stand to lose if we don’t protect it. That’s a fight worth fighting,” says Polaroid’s creative director Patricia Varella, via LBB.

Now, this isn’t a completely altruistic ad. It’s still advertising the new Go Generation 3. Still, if you’re looking for a product to go alongside today’s shifting sentiments against AI, a Polaroid might be it.