OnePlus is gearing up to show off its next smartphone, and it seems we won't have to wait long to get our eyes on it. It will reveal the OnePlus 10 Pro next month, according to co-founder and CEO Pete Lau. “OnePlus 10 Pro, see you in January," Lau wrote on Weibo, as spotted by Gizmodo.

If OnePlus does reveal its next phone in January, it will mark a shift in the brand's usual timeline. Over the last few years, it has announced its flagship handsets in March or April, typically after Samsung debuts the newest Galaxy S series phones.

Rumors suggest OnePlus will only reveal a single phone this time around, instead of the usual approach of having a base model and a pro device. In the past, OnePlus has followed up the flagship devices with a T-series model as well, but it decided not to release a 9T this year.

Lau previously said 10-series devices will have a new Android 13-based operating system that OnePlus is sharing with Oppo. The two formally merged this year under the ownership of BBK Electronics, with OnePlus becoming a sub-brand of Oppo.

Leakers have already offered a peek at the next OnePlus phone through unofficial renders. It seems OnePlus will again use Hasselblad cameras, while the OnePlus 10 Pro screen is slated to be a 6.7-inch QHD+ display with a 120 Hz refresh rate. Lau confirmed earlier this month that the upcoming device will use the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset.

It was only a matter of time before someone other than Fairphone delivered a sustainability-themed smartphone (which is a good thing, of course). Realme, the sister brand of Oppo and OnePlus, announced that its upcoming flagship GT 2 Pro features an eco-friendly bio-polymer material on its back cover — apparently a first in the mobile industry. Better yet, Realme has once again collaborated with Muji and Infobar series design icon Naoto Fukasawa, who finished the GT 2 Pro's design with a textured paper feel on the body. They call this "Paper Tech Master Design."

Realme

This bio-polymer material, supplied by Saudi Arabia's SABIC, is based on paper pulp, and it has obtained International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (or ISCC in short) to prove its environmental friendliness. The Realme GT 2 Pro's packaging also uses much less plastic than its predecessor — from an overall plastic ratio of 21.7 percent down to a mere 0.3 percent.

The phone itself packs some surprises, too. For one, it's one of the first devices to be powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, following the Moto Edge X30. The GT 2 Pro is also the world's first smartphone with a 150-degree ultra-wide camera (most are at around 120 degrees), which offers a unique fisheye camera mode for some fun photography. 

There are also some noteworthy features on the radio side. In Realme's "Antenna Array Matrix System" here, there's the "world's first" ultra-wide-band antenna switching technology, which lets the phone switch to whichever of the 12 antennas has the best signal strength. In addition, this system consists of a symmetrical Wi-Fi antenna which apparently boosts signal stability by up to 20 percent. 

Realme

But the most interesting feature here is perhaps the "360-degree NFC," which is achieved by hooking up the NFC module to the top two cellular antennas as well as its own, thus forming an "NFC 3 antenna array." This allows the upper part of the GT 2 Pro to read NFC on either side, which should make the likes of contactless payment and Bluetooth pairing easier.

For now, the Realme GT 2 Pro is only slated for a China launch at 7:30PM local time (6:30AM ET) on January 4th, 2022, but a company spokesperson confirmed that it will eventually go overseas. Given the brand's track record, this device will likely be competitively priced, but we're just eager to check out Fukasawa's latest mobile design in person — especially the supposedly paper-like texture. Stay tuned for more technical specs, prices and our hands-on.

Honor has teased the launch of its first foldable smartphone, the Magic V, on Twitter and Weibo. The former Huawei sub-brand called it "Honor's first foldable flagship," and said it will be released "soon," though the company didn't provide an exact date.

Rumors have been circulating about a possible Honor folding device, particularly after the company applied for the terms "Magic Fold" and "Magic Wing" with China's trademarking authority. The company's CEO George Zhao told CNET in 2019 that it was interested in building a folding phone, while its former parent Huawei recently released its third-gen folding device, the Mate X2.

Other details are scant, but a rumor from The Elec stated that an upcoming Honor folding phone would use ultra-thin glass with an 8.03-inch folding display and 6.45-inch exterior screen. If accurate, that means it would be much like Samsung's Galaxy Fold 3 and not the Galaxy Flip 3. Given that it's a flagship, it should have a relatively high-end processor and other parts.

Huawei sold Honor in November 2020 in order to "ensure it's survival," so Honor has been independent for just over a year now. Unlike with Huawei devices, Google apps are available on Honor smartphones. 

Along with Samsung, Huawei and now Honor, Xiaomi, Oppo and Motorola have recently released various types of folding smartphones. Google is also reportedly working on at least one folding Pixel device and recently announced a version of Android designed for tablets and foldables.

Google’s nascent Android Automotive operating system is not available on many cars yet, and the app selection can feel limited at times, but today it’s adding a web browser to its arsenal. And, no, we don’t mean Chrome. As of today, the privacy-focused Vivaldi browser is available on Polestar 2 vehicles. It’s a first for Android Automotive and the company, which had yet to offer its software on vehicles before today.

Vivaldi says safety was one of its top priorities when porting the browser over to Android Automotive. To that end, it’s only possible to start a session when your car is parked. If you start streaming something and then resume driving, Vivaldi will limit the video to audio-only. 

Naturally, privacy was also a priority for the team. The browser won’t store your browsing data on the car whenever you open a private tab. If you want to transfer your data between devices, you can do so by signing into your Vivaldi account. That information is something the company says Polestar won’t be able to access.

The Android Automotive version of Vivaldi is based on the company’s mobile release. You won’t find some functionality that is available in the desktop version – for instance, accordion tabs are missing – and Vivaldi has disabled a handful of other features. It’s not possible to download files and scan QR codes, for example. Otherwise, there aren’t many differences between the Android Automotive release and other versions of Vivaldi, and the company says updates will come at a regular cadence.

Zillow has updated its iOS 15 iPhone and iPad apps with SharePlay support, letting you browse homes with other people on Facetime, the company announced. iOS users can start a group FaceTime call and then enable SharePlay to browse through Zillow's photo galleries so everyone on the call can see the property. 

"Americans love to Zillow surf — most of them alongside someone else — and now they have a new way to do it," according to Zillow. "Using the Zillow app on an iPhone or iPad, home shoppers are now able to search and browse for-sale home and rental listings in a seamless, synchronous experience together with family, friends or a real estate agent."

Zillow said that 86 percent of users browse homes with a partner, spouse or housemate, so the new feature makes sense if you can't be together in person. It's also a "great new way for real estate agents to connect with customers," said Zillow CTO David Beitel. 

To use the feature, each participant will need Zillow running on an iPhone or iPad with iOS/iPadOS 15.1 or later. Users can search for different locations on Zillow and browse through available listings with content synced up. A rival real estate app, Redfin, introduced a similar feature back in October. 

Earlier this month, TCL temporarily stopped selling its Google TV televisions because of performance and software problems. Now, it has released a new update that it says has fixed the issue, so the 5-series and 6-series Google-powered TVs are back on sale at Best Buy, 9to5Google has reported. 

The update is rolling out to TCL's entire Google TV lineup starting with the 43-inch LED model and going up to the 75-inch Mini-LED QLED and 85-inch LED TVs. "Recent software updates have allowed us to make significant improvements on the stability and speed of the TCL televisions featuring Google TV," the company told 9to5Google in a statement. "With these updates, this product now represents the powerful performance that TCL and Google believe is the future of TV."

TCL unveiled its first 5-series and 6-series Google TV models last year at CES 2021, offering them exclusively at Best Buy in the US. Perhaps as a mea culpa, TCL and Best Buy are offering significant discounts on all the Google TV models now that they're available again The best deal appears to be on the TCL 75-inch 6-series Mini-LED QLED, available at $1,300 instead of $2,300 — a cool $1,000 off. 

Google now lets you customize how its Voice service handles incoming calls. Starting today, you can configure the app to forward calls from either individual or groups of contacts to a linked phone number or your voicemail. Separately, you can set a rule that plays custom voicemail greetings for specific contacts. And if you want to avoid taking calls unless absolutely necessary, you can tell it to screen individuals.

Google said the new options allow users to route incoming calls in ways that complement their existing workflows. To start using the feature, head over to the Google Voice website and click the cog icon located toward the top of the interface. Then click “Calls,” followed by “Choose a rule.” Note that on the mobile app, it’s only possible to view rules you’ve already set; you can’t establish new ones — at least not yet.

Despite holding the distinction of being one of Google's longest-running services, Voice has received only sporadic attention from the search giant in recent years. Before today, the most recent update the company issued for Voice was to disable one of its most useful features. That's led to fears Google may discontinue the service soon, but today's update would indicate Voice has legs yet.

Since October, Microsoft and Adidas have been releasing commemorative Xbox-themed sneakers to mark the brand's 20th anniversary. It all started with a pair of Forum Tech shoes the two companies gave away to a group of lucky fans. Then, in November, they released a pair of Xbox 360-themed Forum Mid sneakers you could buy in the US and Canada. Now, for their third and final drop, the two have come out with an Xbox Series X-inspired design that's available to purchase worldwide.

This time around, Microsoft and Adidas say they went with the Tech Boost silhouette because, like the Xbox Series X/S, it's a design that acknowledges the past while incorporating new technologies. As with the other sneakers in the series, you'll find plenty of clever references. For instance, the inner lining of the shoes draws on the design of the Xbox Series X's vents. Meanwhile, the heel and sole of shoes mirror the grips of the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller.

"Overall, we wanted to create a shoe that cemented a moment in time, but also felt timeless," Microsoft said. "This is a shoe that is meant to be played in, meant to be worn, and meant to be enjoyed by our community – one that's always played in, and never played out."

You can buy the Xbox Series X Forum Tech Boost from the Adidas website for $140. If you're not a sneakerhead, Microsoft has released other commemorative products to mark the console's 20th birthday, including a translucent controller that pays homage to the original Xbox debug kit.

DuckDuckGo has offered an early peek at its upcoming desktop app. In a blog post that recaps the company's year, CEO Gabriel Weinberg looked toward the future as well. He said DuckDuckGo will bring the privacy protections the company is known for to the app. You can expect the speed and simplicity of its mobile app too.

"Robust privacy protection" will be enabled by default for search, browsing, email and more. Weinberg said the app isn't a "privacy browser" per se, but rather "an everyday browsing app that respects your privacy."

As it did on mobile, DuckDuckGo is building the app using OS-provided rendering engines instead of basing it on projects like Chromium. According to Weinberg, that helped the development team to "strip away a lot of the unnecessary cruft and clutter that’s accumulated over the years in major browsers."

Along with a streamlined interface and the Fire Button (which closes all tabs and wipes browsing data in a single tap), the DuckDuckGo desktop is cleaner and much more private than Chrome, Weinberg said. He also claimed it's "significantly faster" than Google's browser, based on early tests — here's hoping it's less of a memory hog than Chrome too. DuckDuckGo didn't reveal when it plans to release the desktop app.

Weinberg notes that, over the last 12 months, DuckDuckGo has bolstered its search and tracker blocking features. He said DuckDuckGo's mobile app is now the most downloaded Android browser in key markets. In July, the company announced a free email forwarding service that removes tracking pixels from messages.

Pixel 6 Pro has joined the list of devices that can stream games from GeForce Now at 120 frames per second and in 1080p. Until now, the only smartphones to support that option on NVIDIA's cloud gaming service were Samsung Galaxy devices, including S21, S20 FE and Note 20 phones. NVIDIA confirmed on a support page, which was first spotted by XDA Developers, that Pixel 6 Pro owners could use the 120 fps option.

In October, NVIDIA debuted a new high-end tier for GeForce Now that's powered by RTX 3080 GPUs. You'll need to subscribe to that plan (which costs $100 for six months) to stream games at 120 fps. On PC and Mac, the resolution tops out at 1440p but with NVIDIA Shield, you can play at up to 4K. The premium plan costs $50 for six months, so the RTX 3080 plan is quite the jump in price. However, you won't need a tricked-out rig to play titles from a number of PC gaming storefronts at high quality.

To use the 120 fps mode on Pixel 6 Pro, go to the stream quality section under GeForce Now in the app's settings. You'll need to make sure your display's 120Hz refresh rate is active too. NVIDIA says you'll need a connection of at least 25 MB/s for 120 fps gaming. It also plans to bring the option to more devices.