Samsung Galaxy Note 9 pre-orders will get 15000 V-Bucks in Fortnite Mobile

Fortnite Mobile for Android is expected to launch soon. Epic Games, the creators of Fortnite, announced back in May that the popular free-to-play battle royale game will be available this summer. According to our source, Samsung and Epic Games have partnered to launch Fortnite Mobile on Android exclusively on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Reportedly, the game will be exclusive to the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 for 30 days and will remain a Samsung Galaxy exclusive for up to an additional 3 months. Part of the exclusivity deal reportedly involves Epic Games giving away V-Bucks, skins, emotes, and more to those who pre-order the new Samsung Galaxy smartphone. We have now found evidence that Epic Games will be giving 15,000 V-Bucks to users who pre-order the Galaxy Note 9.

Although Fortnite is a free-to-play game, Epic Games offers in-app purchases that can be acquired by purchasing V-Bucks. V-Bucks can be used in Fortnite to buy items like the Battle Pass, skins, dances, emotes, gliders, and pickaxes. Epic Games has reportedly made over $1 billion through these in-app purchases, and the massive revenue they've generated is a big reason the company is opting to not distribute the mobile game via the Google Play Store, as we first reported. Instead, the game will be available on Epic Games' website for select devices after the Galaxy Note 9 exclusivity period is over. Samsung is hoping to entice young gamers to buy the Galaxy Note 9 by offering a special Fortnite promotion.

XDA Junior Member thesbros, an expert at data-mining, found evidence for this promotion from Epic Games' own website. He did so by querying the entitlement API, which is responsible for determining if a user is "entitled" to certain promotions and services. For example, if you have the entitlement "Fortnite_Android" on your Epic account, then you will be able to access the mobile game on your supported Android device. Within the JSON output are strings that explicitly mention a "Samsung Preorder 15000 V-Bucks Promo" entitlement. The only Samsung Galaxy device that we know will be available soon for pre-ordering is the Galaxy Note 9. 15,000 V-Bucks is about $150, which is within the $100-$150 range that rumors stated would be the value of pre-order promotions.

As a fan of Samsung products, I'm excited to see Epic Games partnering with Samsung in this way. This promotion will be a big incentive to buy the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. $150 worth of V-Bucks is enticing, especially for those who play Fortnite regularly like me.

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Oppo R17 or Oppo F9 Pro could be first smartphone with Gorilla Glass 6

Two weeks ago, Corning announced Gorilla Glass 6—the next version of Gorilla Glass. It succeeds Gorilla Glass 5, which was launched in 2016. According to Corning, Gorilla Glass 6 is up to two times better than Gorilla Glass 5 with respect to shatter resistance, while scratch resistance is at the same level as its predecessor. At the time of announcement, the company stated that it would be made available in the market in the next several months. Now, it has announced that Oppo will be the first mobile device manufacturer to use Gorilla Glass 6.

Corning had earlier stated that Gorilla Glass 6 is the company's most durable cover glass yet. To improve cover glass performance, the company's scientists developed and engineered "an entirely new material" to address the challenge of multiple drops, and the company states that in lab tests, Gorilla Glass 6 survived 15 drops from 1 meter onto rough surfaces. Competitive glass compositions such as soda lime and aluminosilicate did not survive the first drop under the same test conditions.

Corning notes that Oppo was one of the leading adopters of Gorilla Glass 5, using it across a broad range of its portfolio. The recently launched Oppo R15 and the Oppo Find X also have Gorilla Glass 5. We know that Oppo is developing two phones due to launch in the near future: the Oppo F9 / Oppo F9 Pro and the Oppo R17. (A comprehensive list of upcoming smartphones by major vendors can be viewed here.) The Oppo F9 Pro was recently teased by the company with a new notch design and VOOC charging. The Oppo F series is the company's mainstream mid-range series, while the Oppo R series are upper mid-range/pseudo-flagship smartphones.

Therefore, it's logical to assume that either the Oppo R17 or the Oppo F9 Pro will be the first smartphone to have Gorilla Glass 6. The cover glass is due for release in the next few weeks. As of now, not much is known about the specifications of both Oppo devices. The Oppo

"We are excited to have OPPO adopt Gorilla Glass 6," said John Bayne, vice president and general manager, Corning Gorilla Glass. "OPPO's new flagship model will provide consumers, who depend on their smartphone for every interaction in their digital lives, increased protection against multiple drops."

"OPPO and Corning have always maintained a close working relationship, which has enabled a superior user experience for consumers through multiple versions of OPPO smartphones," said Andy Wu, vice president, OPPO. "We are excited to be the first to adopt Gorilla Glass 6 on our upcoming smartphone […]."

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Source: Corning

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Leave a Review of the Honor 10 GPU Turbo and Win Prizes

Today [August 3rd] honor will start pushing an OTA update to the Honor 10 which includes the GPU Turbo performance boost. Watch our video testing the GPU Turbo update to see it in action. Honor 10 users have the chance to win some prizes by leaving a review of their experience with the GPU Turbo update on the Honor 10.

How to Update

To check for the OTA update on your Honor 10, go to Settings > System > System Update. If the OTA is ready for your phone, you will be able to update from this screen.

Honor 10 Software Update

How to Enter

Spend some time playing PUBG,which is  compatible with GPU Turbo at launch. Then go to this thread and leave a comment with a review of your experience using the GPU Turbo update.

Prizes

2x Honor Smart Bands

2x Honor Headphones

First Prize: Three users will be picked to win an all-expenses-paid trip to Germany for the launch of a new Honor phone. This even takes place at the end of August.

You have ten days to submit your GPU Turbo review before Honor picks some winners.

Honor 10 Forums

We thank Honor for sponsoring this post. Our sponsors help us pay for the many costs associated with running XDA, including server costs, full time developers, news writers, and much more. While you might see sponsored content (which will always be labeled as such) alongside Portal content, the Portal team is in no way responsible for these posts. Sponsored content, advertising and XDA Depot are managed by a separate team entirely. XDA will never compromise its journalistic integrity by accepting money to write favorably about a company, or alter our opinions or views in any way. Our opinion cannot be bought.

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Asus ZenFone 5Z update brings RAW capture, Panoramas, and more camera improvements

The Asus ZenFone 5Z is an affordable flagship smartphone that aims to compete with the OnePlus 6. It was announced back at Mobile World Congress in February, and launched in a few markets in June. It arrived in India in July. Asus aimed to undercut its competitors with respect to pricing in the affordable flagship segment, and the company succeeded in doing that as the ZenFone 5Z's base 6GB RAM/64GB storage variant costs ₹29,999. This makes it the cheapest Qualcomm Snapdragon 845-powered flagship in India, undercutting even the OnePlus 6 by ₹5,000.

In India, the phone received its first major update at the time of launch, with the update changelog mentioning improved camera performance, July security patches, and bug fixes. Now, Asus is rolling out a major camera-focused update for the Asus ZenFone 5Z. The update brings the ability to capture in RAW. Users can take photos in RAW for post-processing in apps such as Photoshop, as RAW gives more control to the user as compared to processed JPEG images. It's probable to expect the RAW images to have a much higher file size than JPEG photos, though.

The ZenFone 5Z's update also brings panorama mode. Panorama is a standard photo mode on most Android devices, so it's surprising to see Asus roll out the feature in an update instead of having it pre-loaded from the beginning. Regardless, it's good to see it being added. Asus didn't state anything regarding the resolution of panorama photos.

More interestingly, the update improves camera performance across the board. In terms of camera specifications, the Asus ZenFone 5Z has a dual rear camera setup, with a 12MP primary camera paired with an 8MP wide-angle camera. It can record 4K video at 60fps.

The update's changelog mentions improved sharpness, improved auto focus functionality, improved auto exposure, improved HDR, improved slow motion quality and file size in 720p, and improved video quality as well. Users can now switch EIS on/off, and the flash can be used in Pro mode. The audio quality in video recording has been boosted to 192kbps bitrate.

Finally, the update brings improved Wi-Fi stability and other bug fixes. The full changelog can be noted below:

Changelog

Changelog:

Camera:

o   Enable RAW file support

o   Enable Panorama feature

o   Add on/off button for EIS

o   Enable flash feature in Pro mode

o   Filters upgraded to Real Time Filters

o   Camera Improvements

Improve HDR functionality

Improve camera stability

Improve auto exposure

Improve photo sharpness

Improve auto focus functionality

Improve slow motion quality and file size(720p)

Boost audio quality in video to 192kbps bitrate

Improve general Video quality

Improve WiFi stability

Other Bug Fixes[/changelog]

It's worth noting that the OnePlus 6—which is the Asus ZenFone 5Z's primary competitor—also received a major camera update recently. The Asus ZenFone 5Z is available exclusively via Flipkart in India, and the 8GB RAM/256GB storage variant recently became available for purchase. In terms of pricing, the starting 6GB RAM/64GB storage variant costs ₹29,999, while the 6GB RAM/128GB storage and 8GB RAM/256GB storage variants cost ₹32,999 and ₹36,999 respectively.

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Regarding XDA’s stance on Huawei’s decision to stop bootloader unlocking

Back in April, Huawei's form to request a bootloader unlock code mysteriously disappeared. Late May, the form returned but with a warning that the service would no longer work after 60 days. As promised, Huawei's form is no longer available, meaning it's no longer possible to unlock the bootloader of Huawei or Honor devices. This has obviously been disappointing to many users on our forums, but it's been especially disappointing for us, the XDA Portal team. Some have wondered when we would be addressing the elephant in the room – that is, Honor's sponsorship agreements with XDA – in light of this recent news. Here's where we stand.

It's no secret that Honor, a sub-brand of Huawei, sponsors XDA for certain content. Anytime that happens, the content is submitted under the "A Word From Our Sponsors" which are handled entirely by the XDA Administrative staff – not the XDA Portal team. The XDA Portal team does not deal with sponsored content in any way. Every time the Portal covered news related to Huawei or Honor, it has always been because we chose to do so and not because Huawei or Honor asked us to do so.

With that in mind, many users in the comments section on the Portal, YouTube, our Discord group, and our Telegram group have asked us to stop giving coverage to any Huawei or Honor product because of their decision. We don't believe ceasing coverage of the (now #2) smartphone vendor in the world is a reasonable decision for a blog that focuses on Android software and hardware, but our readers' concerns have made us re-evaluate how we'll be covering their products moving forward.

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Moving Forward – XDA Portal's Coverage of Huawei/Honor Devices

First, let's address the perception that XDA should completely stop covering their devices because of the bootloader unlocking decision. The reason boils down to this: What's the point of covering their products if they don't allow you to unlock the bootloader? This stems from the perception that XDA is a community only for rooting and installing custom ROMs, kernels, and modifications. That hasn't been true for years – we've provided forums for devices with little to no hope of receiving official bootloader unlock methods (such as American carrier variants of Samsung devices) and we've also covered plenty of "locked down" devices in the past. The one thing that binds the users of our forums together is the willingness to tinker and mod their devices in any way possible – with or without root. It's why we post tutorials and cover apps that both do and do not need root access. XDA is a community for Android enthusiasts of all stripes, even ones who want to run stock with a few ADB tweaks and not flash an AOSP ROM with a custom kernel, Magisk, and Xposed.

Therefore, there will still be a place for Huawei and Honor devices on XDA, just like there's a place for Snapdragon Samsung devices despite the difficulty in modding them. We realize their decision to stop providing bootloader unlocking codes will make them less popular among our readers, so we'll be adjusting our coverage accordingly. From here on, the XDA Portal team will cover new Huawei and Honor product launches with the disclaimer that the bootloader cannot be unlocked, and we will also continue coverage of their hardware and software if we get any exclusive information from leaks. We can't just pretend that the second largest Android smartphone vendor no longer exists, and given our large reader base there will still be plenty of people who don't feel let down by the bootloader unlock decision. That being said, here's how XDA feels about the bootloader unlock decision and why we've pushed behind-the-scenes to have it reversed.

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How we feel about Huawei's Decision to End Bootloader Unlocking

We are 100% against the decision to no longer provide bootloader unlock codes. To summarize, here are the main benefits that we feel the community is missing out on by no longer having access to bootloader unlocking:

• The ability to update your device past the end of official support. It's true that without OEM support, you won't receive some vital patches, but the alternative is receiving no patches at all. With custom ROMs like LineageOS, you'll still receive valuable kernel and Android framework patches.
• The ability to customize the software on your device to your liking. It's your phone, you should be able to do with it as you want. With the widespread adoption of Project Treble support, Huawei and Honor phones were suddenly becoming great devices for those interested in rooting and installing custom ROMs. Team OpenKirin, a team of independent developers that provide AOSP-based custom ROMs like LineageOS, Carbon ROM, and Resurrection Remix on Huawei and Honor devices, went from supporting a handful of devices to over a dozen with great success.
• The ability to re-brand your device without using closed source paid tools.

We're sure our readers can list dozens of other, more personal reasons why you're disappointed by the lack of bootloader unlocking. We're disappointed too because we've worked with Honor on the Honor View 10's open source program and also on seeding Honor 8 units to developers. The Honor View 10 and Honor 8 have both received ample development support thanks to these development programs. While our efforts in promoting development on these devices haven't always been successful (we tried, but were unable to convince HiSilicon to provide documented sources on their SoCs), we felt that our work with Honor was beginning to pay off especially when the Honor View 10's development program began.

These initiatives feel pointless now that the bootloader can no longer be unlocked. If you had asked me months ago to decide between the Honor View 10 and the OnePlus 5T, I would have a hard time giving you an answer because of the growing development community of the View 10. If you ask me now, my answer will be obvious: If you value bootloader unlocking, don't pick the Huawei or Honor phone. If EMUI doesn't bother you all that much and instead you mainly value their products for the hardware they deliver at the prices they offer, then the choice is up to you whether you want to buy a Huawei or Honor device.

It'll be a difficult decision to reverse, but that doesn't mean we have given up on having Huawei reverse their stance. We've been working with our contacts within the company to ease up on their restrictions and may have gotten them to start giving out bootloader unlock codes again. However, I don't know how many codes they're willing to distribute and for how long. I can't go into more details now, but we'll hopefully have an announcement soon on the forums.

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Conclusion

I hope that our readers now understand where the XDA Portal team stands on the bootloader unlocking issue. Honor and Huawei products will still have a place on XDA, and we're pleased to continue working with Honor as a sponsor for as long as the company sees the value in promoting their brand in the largest English-language community of Android enthusiasts. We hope that the feedback in response to this decision will sway them. We'll continue to advocate our stance to Huawei on your behalf, as we want to see a Huawei and Honor device community successfully grow on the XDA forums.

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Earn Valuable CompTIA Certifications with This Training Bundle

As the world becomes increasingly interconnected by the day, companies large and small are scrambling to hire talented and trained IT professionals who can install, maintain, and troubleshoot their servers and network infrastructures.

These IT professionals enjoy countless opportunities and lucrative salaries, but, if you want to stand out from the crowd, you need to have the right credentials.

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This massive training package contains nearly 2000 lessons spread over 12 courses, each of which is designed to thoroughly prepare you for a specific CompTIA certification exam.

You'll prep for the renowned CompTIA A+ certification by learning about essential hardware and software technologies that are used by the world's biggest companies; the CompTIA Cloud Essentials certification by gaining an understanding of the world's leading cloud computing platforms; the CompTIA Network+ certification by mastering network implementation and troubleshooting, and much more.

There are also courses that prep you for the CompTIA CSA+, Advanced Security Practitioner, Security+, and Mobility+ certifications for added specialization.

Start a lucrative career in IT with help from the Complete 2018 CompTIA Certification Training Bundle—on sale for over 95% off at just $49.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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DevCheck is a hardware and system info app that tells you everything about your device [XDA Spotlight]

The XDA forums are full of developers who make lives easier for those who want to mod their phones. Whether it be an app for controlling superuser access, changing governors on your CPU, overclocking, flashing, or many other functions. DevCheck is yet another application that helps tech-savvy people find technical info about their device. It is made by XDA Recognized Developer flar2. He is the one who brought one of the best custom kernels, ElementalX, to life. The application is free with an option of a paid $2.49 in-app purchase, which offers some neat features and also gives you an ability to support the developer.

DevCheck Features

Let's start breaking down all of the features that make DevCheck stand out from its competitors. The first and the most obvious one is its beautiful user interface with absolutely no ads. At the first screen, you can see real-time info about your device, like current CPU status, battery situation, network signal strength, RAM, and internal storage. Tapping will open up a new screen with more details. You can see the status of big and little clusters on your CPU to understand how your device handles the tasks you throw at it. As you see, all the info is detailed and displayed beautifully.

Another difference between other system info apps will make mobile photographs happy. DevCheck has the ability to list every little detail about your phone's cameras. It shows you details like crop factor, the field of view, focal length, pixel size, and much more. Previously, if you wanted to see all these details, you had to search for it on Google. Some manufacturers don't even list that much details about the device's cameras. Of course, this feature requires access to the camera permissions.

Other hardware such as CPU, GPU, RAM and internal storage have their own category. CPU info includes details like how many cores does the chipset have, how much frequencies do they run on, what governor are they using, and more. Graphics info tells you things like screen resolution, available GPU, OpenGL, and Vulkan support (if available). Even the screen frame rate. RAM and storage categories have real-time progress bars and number indicators. Internal storage even shows the file systems of the partitions.

The other addition that some people may be interested in is that DevCheck can show paired and nearby Bluetooth devices. Of course, it turns on the Bluetooth on the phone to make the information available. The system tab shows information like device manufacturer, logo, full name and model of the device, codename, even bootloader and radio versions, IMEI, Google Services Framework ID, system version, root and busybox access, kernel version, device's architecture, and more.

The sensors tab shows, well, sensors of your device. You can see some cool stats about light, gravity, magnetic field and pressure on your device. Every one of them are so detailed that you probably won't ever need to use Google to find info about your device.

These are some of the features that you get with the free version. The pro version features floating monitors to show CPU, temperature, and network activity. Flar2 mentioned that he uses these during kernel development to see real-time effects while tweaking CPU to maintain stability. You may not use it for developing kernels, but they're still useful to monitor the usage of your thermals, etc. You can even change size and transparency, and dock them into a status bar. Here are the floating monitors in action. I enabled CPU, RAM, and battery monitoring, but as you can see from the screenshot below, you can enable many more.

The pro version also lets you change the theme. There are 9 colors you can choose from and they can be applied on both white and dark themes.

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Download DevCheck

As you probably have guessed, we can't really include every feature the app has in this article. We strongly recommend you to download the application. If you enjoy the app and find it useful, consider supporting the developer by purchasing a pro version or donating.

DevCheck Hardware and System Info (Free⁺, Google Play) →

Note: this article is not sponsored in any way by the developer of DevCheck. The developer is an active contributor on our forums and as a courtesy, we generally cover applications, modifications, or anything else made by active members that we think our readers might be interested in. If you have shared something on our forums that you think deserves a shout out on the Portal, send us a tip.

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