Adding to its ever-growing portfolio and stern competition to it’s Qualcomm counterpart, Taiwanese chipmaker, Mediatek has announced a new gaming Chipset for the Helio G90 series. The Helio G95 SoC offers a 5% boost in GPU performance over the G90T though the rest of the feature set is identical to the latter.

With the G95, MediaTek aims at closing the huge gap existing between the mid-range and flagship gaming smartphone segment and the first phone to use this processor could be the Tecno Camon 16 or Realme 7 with both due for official releases on September 3.

The G90T ended up on phones like the Redmi Note 8 and Note 9 Pro and Realme 6 , so the odds are on we likely get to see more phones with the G95 chip launch in the final lap of the third quarter of the year.

Here’s everything the Mediatek Helio G95 has on offer

Mediatek Helio G95 Features

Essentially, it would be best to understand that the Helio G95 SoC is an overclocked G90T processor, in that it comes with an upgraded Mali-G76 GPU running at 900MHz. The G90T, on the other hand, is equipped with a Mali-G57 GPU that’s running at 800MHz.

Features like HyperEngine game technology, multi-camera support of upto 4 sensors and an APU (AI processing unit) are also very much welcome. The chip also supports upto HDR10+ enhancement quality in real-time.

The G95 processor is manufactured using the 12nm fabrication process and has two Cortex-A76 cores running at 2.05GHz while the six power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores can run upto 2.0GHz.

MediaTek’s famed HyperEngine game technology is responsible for optimizing the gaming experience to provide the best connection speed, picture quality and ensures a smooth gameplay experience on budget devices. There are several customisation options that users can fine-tune further.

Furthermore, Helio G95 chipset supports upto 10GB LPDDR4x RAM, UFS 2.1 storage, upto Full HD+ displays with 90Hz refresh rate and dual 4G SIM cards.

Additionally, the chip can be paired with upto 64MP cameras with upto 4K UHD rerecording.

The MediaTek Helio G95 will power many phones set to launch in September. The first of such as confirmed by Naijatechguy could be the Tecno Camon 16 set to launch on September 3 in India.

The smartphone has been teased with stunning bezeles display, a 64MP camera unit with Samsung’s GM1 or Sony’s IMX686 sensor here which could all play into the hands of the new Helio G95 processor.

The 11th iteration of Google’s Operating System – the Android 11 has initially been released for selected smartphones. But recent developments have seen the Android 11 Beta 2 released by Google for all compatible Google Pixel phones.

With the new release, Android 11 has reached the Platform Stability milestone, which means that the APIs and behaviours included in Android 11 are finalised now.

Pretty buggy wordings right? Don’t worry, hang on here with me.

Google seems to prioritize app stability in it’s latest Beta release and is calling on developers to start updating their apps to target Android 11 and make them ready for its official release that will take place in the third quarter.

Although the search giant hasn’t yet revealed the release date of Android 11, it is briefly suggested that it could be September 8, the exact same timing for its Android 10 release last year.

Also, Google made sure to fix most errors reported with the first Beta release and even went on to throw in more spice therein. We will have an expansive look at everything new in Android 11 Beta 2 in a giffy.

Shall we!

Everything new in the Android 11 Beta 2 Update

One of the major changes that Android 11 Beta 2 brings over the existing beta release that debuted last month is its Platform Stability reach.

Essentially, the “Platform Stability verification means that all app-facing surfaces and behaviors are now final in Android 11 ,” said Dave Burke, VP of Engineering, Android, in a blog post. “This includes not only final SDK and NDK APIs, but also final system behaviors and restrictions on non-SDK interfaces that may affect apps. So from Beta 2, you can release compatibility updates with assurance that the platform won’t change.”

Moreover, the Android team confirmed all major requirements are at their final stage for the new beta version, hence, developers are encouraged to start their compatibility testing and publish updates ahead of the official public Android 11 release.

Another major stress point for the recently released Android 11 Beta 2 is its special attention to app compatibility which really cannot be overemphasized.

This means that Google has brought the new beta 2 version to give a ground to developers to make sure that their apps run flawlessly without downtimes and crashes. Developers can test their apps either on an Android 11 Beta 2 device or using the latest emulator available on Android Studio.

“With each release, we’re working to reduce the work you’ll need to do to get your apps ready,” said Burke. “In Android 11, we’ve added new processes, developer tools, and release milestones to minimise the impact of platform updates and make it easier for apps to stay compatible.”

Now, I know I told you to stick by but all the jargons really doesn’t make much sense to you right? And I guess you really asking

What Android 11 Beta 2 release means for you the end user?

Is it really close to public launch or what? Just hit the godammn nail on the head will you!

Easy peasy!!!

Well, in a nut shell, it theoritically means we are gradually getting to the finishing line.

For end users, Android 11 Beta 2 doesn’t include any major surprises over what we already received through the last beta release. You’ll, however, get a list of interface changes that are offered to enhance the overall user experience.

One of the noticeable changes that Android 11 Beta 2 brings is the updated Pixel Launcher that no longer has transparency, as detailed by XDA Developers.

A Smooth Display toggle has also been added to the Display settings to let users easily enable automatic switching from 60 to 90Hz for select content. The existing Force 90Hz option in the Developer options menu has also been removed, as highlighted by some users on Reddit.

Google has also removed some clutter from the Share Sheet available on Android 11 Beta 2 and made a pin icon available for the apps that are pinned on the Share Sheet.

The default screen recording option on Android which has often been a headache for Android users also gets a major addition. Android 11 Beta 2 comes with the ability to record the device’s internal audio while capturing the screen. This is in addition to the existing audio recording from microphone option. You can also use the new addition to record the device’s audio as well as from its microphone simultaneously.

Moving on, a new icon to let you launch a conversation in a bubble has also been added. Similarly, the Allow apps to show bubbles option is now enabled by default for all apps to show conversations in bubbles. The list of supported apps, however, is currently not so populated and includes only renowned names such as Facebook Messenger and Google’s Messages Apps.

Developers have also received a cached apps freezer option that appears to “suspend execution for cached apps,” as noticed by XDA Developers. However, the Android team is yet to reveal the purpose of the new addition.

There is also a pre-installed app called Device Drop Monitor that uses the built-in sensors of the device to detect its dropping and log the duration of the freefall. Once the app detects a fall, it shows a notification to the user and asks them to complete a brief survey to provide details about the accident, as reported by XDA Developers.

This is crazy and one very essential for smartphones and pixel phones which will support pop-up camera module going forward.

Google says it will give users feedbacks after completing the survey that says the user inputs “will help improve the design on future Pixel devices.”

Finally, Google seems to have made the Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode a little more functional in the latest Android 11 Beta 2 update.

Early Android 11 beta testers, are reporting a limited resizability handling to the Picture-in-Picture (PiP) window in the Android 11 Beta 2. Also present is a dedicated settings for Conversations.

Furthermore, XDA Developers has noticed that the new media player that debuted in the earlier Android 11 Beta release is now available in the Quick Settings panel by default. This means that you don’t need to enable the Developer options menu to activate the new design.

Also, there is a reported new ripple animation effect that appears when you hit the play/ pause button on the media player available in the Quick Settings panel.

Bottom line

All in all, early impressions suggest Android 11 promises to come with a hench of features which definitely will mean more internal storage space options is needed.

Android 10 already gave birth to enormous storage options in smartphones, and with the continuous update been rolled out, we feel devices running or users hopping to update to the new OS should definitely have this at the back of their mind.

When could Google release Android 11 stable update?

We already mentioned how Google usually release it’s premier Operating System in the third quarter of the year, though the latest beta debut suggest we could already have a set date on our hands for the Android 11 stable release.

The search giant hosted a “Hey Google” Smart Home Summit in which it included a slide showcasing a “Checklist for September 8th Android 11 launch,” XDA Developers
reports.

Android 10 was launched in September last year. Thus, it makes sense for Google to launch its new iteration after one year. However, with the Global pandemic that is the Coronavirus pandemic pushing schedules to the extreme, no official communication on the release date has been made so far.