The OnePlus 10T 5G will be unveiled on August 3rd

Following the launch of the OnePlus 10 Pro early this year, OnePlus has announced that it will launch another flagship phone in 2022. The OnePlus 10T 5G will make its debut in New York on August 3rd at 10 AM ET, marking the company’s first in-person event since 2019. 

The key selling point will be Qualcomm’s latest and greatest chipset, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Mobile Platform. As we detailed in May, that promises faster and longer-lasting Android flagships, thanks to a 10 percent improvement in processing speed and 30 percent reduction in power. Xiaomi also recently announced that its Redmi K50 phone would arrive soon with that chipset. 

The device will premiere with OxygenOS 13, OnePlus’s take on Android 13. Along with the latest Android features, it’s expected to introduce improved UI personalization, design consistency and more. The 10T 5G will be launched globally, meaning you should be able to buy one both in the US and Europe. OnePlus didn’t reveal any other specs or details, other than the textured back shown in the teaser image. We’ll learn more when it launches on August 3rd at 10AM ET (3PM BST), and OnePlus has more information here. 

Repair your AirPods charging case with an unofficial 3D-printed kit

AirPods have a reputation for being unrepairable, but one engineer might have an unofficial workaround. Ken Pillonel (of USB-C iPhone fame) has created an open source repair kit for first- and second-generation AirPods models. If you’re comfortable cracking open the case, you can perform repairs (such as installing a fresh battery) and get back to business using a 3D-printed replacement part. Moreover, the kit will drag your AirPods into the modern era — it switches the charging port from Lightning to an EU-friendly USB-C connection.

Pillonel is publishing the necessary 3D printing and PCB (circuit board) files on his GitHub repository. He’s not sure about selling ready-made repair kits himself, but he’s open to the possibility.

This solution clearly isn’t for the faint of heart. You’ll need access to printing hardware, not to mention some technical know-how. To Pillonel, however, it’s worth the effort. In normal use, the AirPods charging case is destined to become e-waste if it either breaks or loses too much battery life. The DIY kit promises to keep your case useful for years to come, and offers connectivity you won’t get by ordering a case from Apple.

TP-Link adds two $200 tri-band routers to its lineup

TP-Link has introduced two new WiFi 6 routers that use tri-band technology, which translates to more bandwidth for multiple devices and less congestion. The Archer AXE5400, also known as Archer AXE75, is a WiFi 6E router than can deliver speeds of up to 5400 Mbps. It’s a standalone router that gives users access to the new 6 GHz band, which increases the number of WiFi devices the router can handle and gives those who own phones and other gadgets that have 6 GHz capability an alternative to the overcrowded 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. It doesn’t, however, have motorized antennas that can follow devices around like the model the company showed off at CES this year.

TP-Link explains on the device’s official page that “[a]ccess to the 6 GHz frequency brings more bandwidth, faster speeds, and lower latency, opening up resources for future innovations like in AR/VR, 8K streaming and more.” In addition, the device is protected by the latest WiFi security protocol called WPA3, which is more secure than its predecessors, and has USB 3.0 so it can be connected to an external drive. 

Aside from the AX5400, TP-Link has also introduced the Archer AX5400 Wi-Fi 6 Tri-Band Router, or Archer AX75. This one does not have access to the 6 GHz band, but it does allow users to distribute demanding devices connected to the network on its two separate 5 GHz bands for better performance. 

Both AXE75 and AX75 will set buyers back $200 and are now available on Amazon. 

Microsoft is giving Xbox Insiders free access to classic Bethesda first-person shooters

Microsoft is giving select PC gamers free access to four classic games by Bethesda and id Software, which it acquired as part of its $7.5 billion ZeniMax purchase in 2020. And three of them wouldn’t have been released if the tech giant isn’t acquiring Activision Blizzard, as well. In a post on the Xbox blog, Microsoft has revealed that Xbox Insiders on Windows PC can now preview Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders, HeXen: Beyond Heretic, HeXen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel, The Elder Scrolls: Arena and Quake Champions. 

It’s not surprising that the offer is only available for PC users part of Microsoft’s Insider program — as Ars Technica notes, the first four games in the list were originally released in the mid-90s and run via DOSBox emulation. DOSBox runs software for MS-DOS compatible games, but it’s a pretty inelegant solution for making old titles playable. 

The Elder Scrolls: Arena is an open-world action RPG published by Bethesda, with a first person perspective and features melee combat and magic. Meanwhile, Heretic, its sequel HeXen: Beyond Heretic and the latter’s expansion pack, HeXen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel, are all first-person dark fantasy shooters. They were built using a modified version of the Doom engine, and though they were published by id Software, they were developed by Raven Software. Activision acquired the rights to those games when it purchased Raven in 1997.

Microsoft first announced that it’s purchasing Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion in January this year and expects the deal to close no later than June 2023 if regulators give it their approval. It’s an all-cash deal that values Activision at $95 a share. Microsoft plans to add Activision Blizzard games to the Xbox Game Pass as part of the acquisition, and some of those games may be like the Heretic-HeXen series, which Activision doesn’t fully own.

小米推出主打「時尚都會女性」的 Xiaomi 12 Lite

小米今天在台灣發表了一系列的夏日新品，除了主打的 Xiaomi 12 Lite 手機之外，還有包括智慧顯示器、平板電腦、無線吸塵器、調理機、迷你無線風扇和智慧寵物產品等一共 8 樣新品，可以說是近來小米最「五花八門」的一場發表會了。…

Google Photos for web now shows if your images are taking up space

Google has introduced a small but very useful change to Photos on the web, spotted by 9to5Google. In the info section for each photo, there’s a new category called “Backed up” after the current day/date, location, device, EXIF and image size. It shows whether the file has been saved in “Original quality” or “Storage saver,” and how much space it’s taking up, if any. 

This will be especially informative for users on Google’s free tiers following its storage policy changes instituted on June 1, 2021 that ended unlimited free storage of photos. They’ll let you manage your photos on a more granular basis if you need to free up space, or just check the quality at a glance. That’s on top of the current “Manage storage” feature that provides an overview and management of your cloud storage.

Oddly, much like the “Uploaded from” and “Shared by” information, the “Backed up” info isn’t available on the Android or iOS apps — only on the web. The feature has started to hit some accounts, but has yet to widely roll out.