#WeeklyRecap: OnePlus X-ray cam, DRDO's currency-sanitizer, POCO F2 Pro, more
This week, plenty of developments were noted in the world of technology. Some stories revolved around the companies and organizations fighting the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, while the others included new phones, product updates, security issues, and the case of a OnePlus phone being able to look through clothes and plastic-made objects with relative ease. Let's take a look back at everything.
OnePlus 8 Pro camera scans through clothes
OnePlus' latest flagships, the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro, will launch in India on May 29. But, well before that event, the elder "Pro" variant of the duo has landed into a major controversy, thanks to its Color Filter Camera and its creepy ability to see through clothes and plastic objects under certain conditions. OnePlus has neither commented nor fixed the issue yet.
Boston Dynamics to DRDO, organizations using technology to fight COVID-19
To fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Boston Dynamics deployed Spot 'robo-dog' to remind people about maintaining social distance in parks. Meanwhile, Twitter launched labels and warnings to help people identify COVID-19 misinformation on its app/website. Also, India's Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has announced new cabinet-like machines to disinfect mobile phones, iPads, laptops, currency notes, cheque leaves, challans, passbooks, and other paper-made materials.
WHO's COVID-19 app, India's own antibody testing kit
The World Health Organization (WHO) promised to launch a dedicated COVID-19 app - with symptom assessment and probably contact-tracing - for countries that do not have one. India, on the other hand, confirmed the development of its own COVID-19 antibody testing kit.
Issues with Gboard, Windows update, and Edison Mail
This week three products ran into issues - Google's Gboard, Windows 10, and Edison Mail. The Gboard glitch displayed highly inappropriate word suggestions to the users typing, while the issue with Edison Mail redirected personal emails of users to strangers. Meanwhile, the Windows 10 bug, stemming from a recent update, broke speaker audio and created data loss issues for users.
FBI claims China-linked hackers targeted US COVID-19 research
Notably, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also issued a notice saying that certain China-linked hackers attempted to hack and steal ongoing COVID-19 vaccine and treatment research from US organizations. The Bureau has not yet revealed the names of the organizations targeted.
Google's major product updates
Google also made headlines by rolling out the free version of Google Meet, its free video-conferencing service, around the world. Beyond that, the company also announced two major updates for Chrome: one promises tab grouping capabilities, while the other enforces data and CPU usage limits to keep resource-hungry ads from eating up your notebook's battery and network data.
Finally, there were a number of smartphone launches
For smartphone lovers, numerous devices were unveiled this week, including POCO F2 Pro, Realme Narzo 10-series, Redmi K30 Racing Edition, Vivo V19, Honor 9X Pro, Huawei Y9s, P30 Pro New Edition, and P40 Lite 5G, OPPO A31, and Samsung Galaxy A Quantum and Galaxy A21s. Some reports also suggested that Pixel 4a's launch has been delayed, while Moto Edge+ will launch on May 19.
