Half a month after OnePlus announced that it’s becoming an Oppo sub-brand, it has revealed that it’s also merging its OxygenOS with its new parent company’s ColorOS. The two brands have come to the decision to “best leverage [their] shared resources” and to standardize the software experience across their portfolio. But what does OnePlus mean exactly when it said that they’re “working on integrating the codebase of OxygenOS and ColorOS?” It said you may not even notice a difference, because the changes are happening behind the scenes.
OxygenOS will still be the operating system for OnePlus devices released globally. As 9to5Google notes, OnePlus phones released in China already run ColorOS, and that will likely remain the case — it’s just that the operating systems will now shade a codebase. All new devices the sub-brand will release will run the new OxygenOS, while current devices that are still receiving updates will get the new platform via an over-the-air update.
Speaking of updates, OnePlus is promising better and longer Android update support, which now rivals Samsung’s, with the change. The OnePlus 8 series and the brand’s newer flagships will receive three major Android updates and four years of security updates going forward. Meanwhile, the first Nord and any newer Nord and Nord CE devices will receive two major Android and three years of security updates. Finally, the affordable Nord N series phones starting from the N10 and the N100 will get one major Android update and three years of security updates. Unfortunately, you can continue expecting two major Android and three years of security updates if you have a flagship older than the OnePlus 8.
When the merge was announced, the companies said OnePlus will remain independently operated. Since the move was meant to pool their resources and to better streamline their operations, though, linking their operating systems more closely doesn’t come as surprise.
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Telegram Messenger has received a major update to its video capabilities, including support for video calls with up to 1,000 viewers.
Group video calls in Telegram allow up to 30 users to stream video from both their camera and their screen, and now a maximum of 1,000 people can tune into the broadcast. Telegram says it intends to continue increasing this limit “until all humans on Earth can join one group call.”
Meanwhile, video messages now have a higher resolution, and any audio playing on the user’s device will keep playing when a message is being captured so that it’s included in the recording.
In addition, users can now tap on a video message to expand it in the conversation thread. Tapping on an expanded video message initially pauses it, and it’s also possible to fast-forward and rewind the message.
Elsewhere in this update, the media player now supports multiple video playback speeds, screen sharing has been added to one-on-one calls, the in-app camera supports all zoom levels a device is capable of, and the media editor includes new tools to illustrate photos and videos with drawings, text, and stickers.
Several other smaller tweaks and improvements have made it into this bumper update, and Telegram has further details in its latest blog post. Telegram is a free download for iPhone and iPad from the App Store. [Direct Link]
Retro appeal and memories of a youthful cross-Canada road trip fuel Calgarian’s love for car(s) of his dreams
As a young man working a summer job digging up old cable, Ralph Hindle was introduced to the Ford Mustang. This was 1973 in the Ottawa area, and one of Hindle’s workmates was fanatical about Shelby Mustangs. The workmate owned a 1970 Boss Mustang, but would always point out a Shelby at any opportunity.
“I got to drive his Boss when he lost his driver’s licence for six months,” the Calgarian recalls. “And then, I bought a blue 1965 Mustang fastback. That car had lots of issues — the floors were rusted out, it would overheat, and it used oil.
“Every time I stopped for gas, I’d put in a quart of oil and fill the radiator. There were leaks all over the place.”
But that didn’t prevent Hindle and his high school friend Mike Grant — with whom he’s still friends — from driving the car across Canada, making it to British Columbia and back to Ontario.
Hindle, an analytical chemist, moved to Calgary in 2000 and was kept busy with motorcycles for several years. During that time, he didn’t have a hobby car. However, he’d long dreamed of owning a Porsche Carrera until his long time high school friend, Mike Grant, also now in Calgary, showed up in a brand new 2006 Mustang fastback.
“This fifth-generation Mustang (introduced in 2005) had a retro appeal and had the looks of the car we’d driven across Canada,” Hindle says.
After selling his share of a lab he’d helped open and operate, Hindle had a few extra dollars in his pocket.
“My wife said to me, ‘Buy the car of your dreams,’” he recalls.
Instead of the Porsche, Hindle was so enamoured by the fifth-generation Mustang that he began searching for a 2007 Mustang Shelby GT500. Wanting a road trip, he was looking to buy a car from a dealer far from Calgary. He found a black 2007 convertible in Hamilton, Ontario, worked out a deal and flew east to drive the car home.
Is one ever enough, though? Hindle didn’t think so, and he started looking for a ’07 Mustang Shelby GT500 coupe. “I found a blue coupe at a dealer in Las Vegas, and Mike and I flew down to pick that car up. We drove it home,” he says.
The 2007 Shelby GT500 was a product of Ford’s Special Vehicle Team and Shelby Motors. The recipe included a more powerful engine — a supercharged 5.4-litre DOHC V8 good for 500 horsepower paired with a six-speed manual transmission — in a Mustang imbued with better handling and braking capabilities.
But Hindle wanted more Shelby, and after purchasing both of his GT500s he booked his cars at Shelby Automobiles in Las Vegas for the addition of special packages – the blue coupe for the 40th Anniversary package, followed by the convertible and the Super Snake package.
He drove the coupe down first and flew home, leaving the GT500 in Las Vegas while Shelby Automobiles installed the 40th Anniversary package. Six weeks later, when it was ready, Hindle drove the convertible down for its Super Snake package and returned home with the coupe. Of course, he flew back down again to retrieve the convertible when Shelby Automobiles was finished.
“After the Shelby modifications, which included many changes such as upgraded brakes, suspension and on the coupe, a Kenne Bell supercharger that was good for 725 hp, the cars started and drove the same, but they weren’t the same anymore,” Hindle says. “You don’t really know what you have until you put your foot into it. The coupe, especially, is like it’s had too much coffee and always wants to go.”
Since buying the cars, Hindle has tried to do one summer road trip per year in each. He occasionally commuted in them, too, however there are only 45,000 kilometres on the convertible and 17,000 on the coupe.
“I don’t drive them as much as I used to, and I’ve listed the convertible for sale,” he says. “The blue coupe, because it reminds me of the 1965 Mustang that Mike and I drove across Canada, is the one that interests me the most.”
Greg Williams is a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Have a column tip? Contact him at 403-287-1067 or gregwilliams@shaw.ca.
A new Telegram update allows up to 1,000 people to join a group video call at once, and the company doesn’t seem inclined to stop there.
“We will keep increasing this limit until all humans on Earth can join one group call and watch us yodel in celebration (coming soon),” the company says, though it seemed content to maintain the 30 broadcaster maximum it set when it added group video calls to the service in June.
Numerous video-related changes—such as the ability to control playback speed, share links to particular timestamps, and continue to play audio from the device being used to record a video—arrives with the update as well. It also increases the maximum resolution of video messages.
The update introduces screen-sharing in one-on-one calls, too, and the ability to capture device audio while sharing the screen. All told, these changes make video-related content a far more prominent aspect of the previously text-focused messaging platform.
Telegram says the latest update also introduces the ability to have messages automatically delete themselves after one month, adds a password-recovery option that doesn’t rely on an email account, and makes numerous changes to its apps for Android and iOS devices.
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