WhatsApp is rolling out a handful of new features over the next few weeks. To make it easier to add new contacts, WhatsApp is introducing a new QR code capability. You’ll soon be able to scan another user’s QR code to add them to your contacts, no more typing in a phone number manually. As you may remember, WhatsApp tested this feature a few months ago.

On video calls, which now support up to eight people, WhatsApp will let you press and hold to maximize a participant’s video to full screen. There’s also a video icon in group chats, so you can easily start a group video call with one tap. Though, the icon will only appear in chats with eight or fewer participants.

“These features may never make it to a camera release, but they’re cool enough and cooked enough to give you a taste,” GoPro wrote.

GoPro acquired ReelSteady in March. The software gained notoriety with the drone crowd, which used it to better smooth out their flight videos. Now, the GoPro Labs firmware optimizes the Hero8 Black’s in-camera rolling shutter correction to be suitable for ReelSteady GO stabilization. This is the first time that the public has access to ReelSteady tech on the GoPro platform.

GoPro

With the new firmware, which you can find here, GoPro is also sharing a new QR code-enabled method to control Hero8 Black cameras. Users can simply point their cameras at a QR code to trigger a designated feature. Some of those features include motion detection start/stop, speed detection start/stop and camera scripting. For example, you might instruct the camera to shoot a time lapse video but only during daylight hours.

While there were ways to tinker with GoPro’s firmware before, users will likely appreciate an official channel and an early glimpse of features the company may add down the line.

The first thing you’ll notice about the Find X2 Pro is that it has a somewhat plain appearance compared to the legendary Find X. There are no hidden pop-up cameras; instead you’ll find three of them lined up on the back. There’s also a punch-hole camera at the top left corner of the curved screen.

Admittedly, the Find X2 Pro’s design didn’t surprise me as much as its predecessor’s, but that’s not to say it’s bad. The phone comes in black ceramic or orange vegan leather with a rose gold frame (China gets a grey vegan leather edition, too). Personally, I prefer the masculine ceramic edition. The back is etched with fine curvy lines, which form a wave pattern when you tilt it under the light. The downside, though, is that this glossy surface picks up fingerprints.

People used to the likes of regular-sized phones — the iPhone 11 Pro, Galaxy S20+ or smaller — may find the 207-gram (7.3-ounce) Find X2 Pro a little heavy. (The leather edition weighs 7 grams less.). That said, it’s still lighter than the likes of S20 Ultra and iPhone 11 Pro Max. For me, the Find X2 Pro feels just right for its size, weight and build quality.

What truly makes the Find X2 Pro stand out from the crowd is its 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 flash charge, making it the third device to benefit from Oppo’s handy feature after the Reno Ace and Realme’s X50 Pro. In this case, it takes 38 minutes to juice up that 4,260mAh battery, which is quite fast considering how other flagships take about an hour or more for a full charge. Another benefit of VOOC is that the phone doesn’t heat up that much while charging, so it’s totally fine to use it while plugged in.

This new Oppo phone has all the guts you’d expect from a 5G flagship. There’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset, 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM, 512GB of storage, in-display fingerprint reader, Dolby Atmos stereo speakers and triple-mic noise cancellation. It also packs a 6.7-inch Quad HD+ (3,168 x 1,440) AMOLED screen with an impressive 120Hz refresh rate — a rare combination in today’s market. With the periscope telephoto camera on the back, the Find X2 Pro is basically the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s brother from another mother.

The imaging similarities end there, as the Find X2 Pro has a totally different set of camera sensors. While the telephoto camera here also offers 10x hybrid zoom (16mm-160mm), it uses a 13-megapixel sensor with f/3.0 aperture and optical stabilization. The app switches to this camera for 5x zoom (optical) and beyond (hybrid). You can push all the way to 60x zoom if you really want to, but you’re not going to get anything Instagram-worthy.

As for the 48-megapixel f/1.7 main camera, it’s powered by Sony’s new IMX689 sensor, which offers “All Pixel Omni-Directional PDAF (phase-detection autofocus).” In a nutshell, rather than using just 3 percent of the pixels to focus, here all the pixels take part in a faster and more reliable autofocus, especially in the dark. Additionally, there’s optical stabilization plus laser autofocus, and these cameras can use the color sensors on both sides of the phone for more accurate brightness and color temperature measurements. The main camera also does 12-bit RAW capture for greater color depth, which Oppo claims is a first for smartphones.

The last of the rear cameras is a 48-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide camera with a 120-degree field of view. It can also be used to take macro shots at down to 3cm, as well as offering extra stabilization for video capture. Much like the S20 Ultra, the Find X2 Pro’s rear cameras can make use of the triple microphones for clearer audio recording and audio zoom, but they can’t do 8K recording — just up to 4K at 60fps.

On the other side, there’s a 32-megapixel f/2.4 selfie camera punched into the top-left corner of the screen. Here you get the usual beautification options, as well as screen flash and gesture control. It also does 1080p video capture at 30fps.

An Oppo spokesperson told me that the rear cameras here were built based on the learnings of the earlier Reno 10x Zoom, which also had a periscope camera. The company claims that we’ll see better uniformity across all three cameras, especially when it comes to auto white balance, HDR photography and the new Ultra Night Mode — this is sometimes an issue for smartphones packing so many different camera sensors.

I asked Oppo why the company chose to ditch the Find X’s legendary pop-up cameras, and the reason was partly about achieving an IP68 dustproof plus waterproof rating. Also, the design team wanted a camera module small enough that it wouldn’t call too much attention to itself. Fair enough. And of course, the fewer mechanical parts there are, the less wear and tear users will have to worry about in the long run.

To help show off the Find X2 Pro’s photography prowess, Oppo picked this particular “True Billion Color Display” from Samsung. The panel’s 8+2 bit color depth means it delivers 64 times more colors than conventional 8-bit displays. Oppo also worked with color tuning experts to add screen calibration process — an extra 20 seconds for each device — to the Find X2 Pro’s production line, in order to ensure a low JNCD (Just Noticeable Color Difference) ratio of no greater than 0.8 in default display mode. As phone nerds might know, this is the same standard that OnePlus teased for its upcoming smartphone, which isn’t surprising given that Oppo does the manufacturing for it.

Oppo also added a clever trick to accurately control the screen’s brightness and color temperature. Rather than relying on a single sensor, the Find X2 Pro uses the color sensors for both sets of cameras for 360-degree detection. This means the screen will less likely jump to maximum brightness when you walk under a street light at night. Additionally, the system will also learn your brightness preferences according to the current app and sensor data and automatically adjust for you in the future.

To further leverage this 120Hz, HDR10+ display, Oppo added a proprietary feature called the O1 Ultra Vision Engine, which is mainly for upscaling to HDR and boosting frame rate in video playback (you can toggle these two features individually). While I appreciate the HDR upscaling option, I find that this engine isn’t necessary for most clips; in fact, artificially boosting the frame rate appears to reduce the sharpness slightly. In response, Oppo claims “the smoothness matters the most” for our overall viewing experience, and recommends trying this engine with action sequences with a frame rate of under 30fps.

Oppo is also taking full advantage of this 120Hz screen with its revamped, more lightweight ColorOS, based on Android 10. I’m liking it so far. The interface looks clean and the animations feel smooth, so much that it actually reminds me of the latest OnePlus phones, which isn’t a bad thing.

As a finishing touch on the UX, Oppo equipped the phone with a custom X-axis linear motor for vibration functions, which the company claims is the largest of its kind amongst Android phones. Compared to most other phones I’ve come across, the vibration here feels crisper, which is great for typing and gaming — I could really feel the difference.

If you’ve been wondering why there’s a “Pro” in the name, there is indeed a “regular” Find X2 as well. It’ll obviously be cheaper, but you’ll mainly be missing out on the camera specs. The periscope telephoto camera is replaced with a fixed telephoto shooter, and the main camera uses an older 48-megapixel sensor (it’s the same IMX586 as the Pro’s ultra-wide camera). While the ultra-wide camera here only shoots 12 megapixels, it’s actually powered by Sony’s new IMX708 sensor, which makes up with native 16:9 capture and 4-in-1 pixel binning. You also only get 256GB of storage, the more common Z-axis vibration motor, a lower protection rating of IP54 and a choice of either ceramic or glass only. The rest is pretty much the same, though.

Alen Wu, Oppo’s President of Global Sales, told me that there are no plans to bring the Find X2 series to the US, which isn’t surprising given that the company has yet to properly enter the US smartphone market. He added that much of his company’s focus in the West is in European countries like France, Italy, Spain, UK and more. And for the first time, sales outside China accounted for more than half of Oppo’s total numbers last year. As for 2020, Oppo will be making its Latin America debut in Mexico. One step closer to the brand’s eventual arrival in the US?

Update 3/6/20 5:15AM ET:: In terms of pricing, the Find X2 Pro is asking for 6,999 yuan (about $1,010) or 1,199 euros. Like the original Find X, the Find X2 Pro also comes in a Lamborghini edition, with design inspirations taken from the Aventador SVJ Roadster. The damage? A mere 12,999 yuan or about $1,880, which includes special edition accessories plus a pair of true-wireless earbuds. If you want something a little more affordable, though, the Find X2 starts at 5,499 yuan (about $790) or 999 euros.

With the exception of the Lamborghini edition, the Find X2 series will be available in Europe from as soon as early May.

The Pixel 4 will automatically screen robocalls using Call Screen. The feature will silently filter out junk calls. If it’s not spam, you’ll get a description of who’s calling and why, so you can decide whether you want to answer. Because Call Screen works on the device, it won’t use Wi-Fi or data.

Google is making a few changes to Duo calls, too. On the Pixel 4, Duo will keep you centered in the video frame as you chat. If another person joins you, the frame will automatically adjust to fit them in. If the connection is spotty, a machine learning model on the Pixel 4 will fill in the gaps, guessing which sound was cut out and filling it in, and to reduce video choppiness, Smooth Display will refresh up to 90 times per second.

Pixel 2, 3 and 4 models will also get a portrait filter in Duo, which will blur the background slightly to make you look sharper. You’ll be able to apply a similar filter to photos, too. Whether you just took the picture or snapped it years ago, Pixel owners can now add the Portrait Blur in the Google Photos app.

The features are already rolling out, and they should arrive on Pixel devices in the coming weeks. Google plans to make feature drops a regular occurrence, but we don’t know what other changes are in the pipeline.

If you have the Dunkin’ App on your Android phone, you can now place orders through Google Assistant. Alexa has been serving up Dunkin’ drinks and donuts for more than a year, so really, it’s about time that Google Assistant caught up.

Google Assistant now works with Google Keep, Any.do, AnyList or Bring! too. So you can create and manage your holiday notes or lists in more apps. The feature works across phones, smart speakers with Assistant and Smart Displays. You will have to do some configuring. In the “Services” tab in your Google Assistant settings, choose your preferred app from the “Notes and Lists” section.

You can also assign reminders for family members and roommates. Google’s example is: “Hey Google, remind Nick to pick up Mom from the airport tonight,” which is helpful but also a bit concerning — would Nick have forgotten to pick up Mom without a reminder?

You can look up photos with commands like, “Hey Google, look up photos from this weekend,” but you’ll still have to tap photos to select them. Then you can ask Google to share them with friends or family. Finally, you can now ask for podcasts based on themes, though that feature is only available in English on Assistant-enabled devices.

Starting today, there’s an easier way to organize your servers on chat platform Discord: folders.

If you’re a member of many Discord servers, you’ll know that organizing them is a bit of a pain. Previously, you could move server icons in your sidebar to reorder them, but if you had more than 10 or so, it was hard to find the one you want.

Now, you can drag and drop servers into folders, and rename or color code those folders. For example, you could create a folder for gaming servers or one for servers that you mod. You can dismiss notifications by folder, so you needn’t go through servers marking channels as read one by one.

While these may seem like simple safety updates, they are important. Drivers have left their cars on in their garages because they don’t realize the ignition is on, and an auto-park feature may have saved Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin, who was killed in a “rollaway” accident. While Toyota already has visual and audible warnings that alert drivers that the car is on or in gear, these features will go one step further.

So why is Facebook going back to 2011? According to Wong, the company is starting to lay the groundwork for integrated messaging across all its services. The company reportedly plans to unify its Whatsapp, Messenger and Instagram messaging apps, adding end-to-end encryption to ensure user privacy. They’ll continue to work as standalone apps, but share the same underlying architecture. Facebook reportedly has thousands of developers working on the project, with a plan to complete it in late 2019 or early 2020.

The testing appears to be in early stages, and Wong said that the “Chats” section only has basic text, and no reactions, calls, video or photos. For that, “you’d still have to open the Messenger app,” she said. Facebook will still keep all three apps, she believes, because “they serve different markets.”

The updates include features like Google Assistant integration. While that’s still in beta and primarily works with Calendar, G Suite customers can now ask their Assistant when and where a meeting is. Google Assistant has worked with Calendar for a while, but only on personal accounts. It was an obvious and glaring omission from G Suite, so it’s about time Google incorporated it.

There’s changes for Hangout Meet and Hangout Chat, too. In Hangout Meet video calls, users can opt for automatic live captions using Google’s speech recognition technology. Soon, users will be able to publicly live stream video meetings. Google is also bringing Hangout Chat into Gmail. While Gmail had chat integrated, Hangout Chat is G Suite’s more robust Slack alternative, and users will be able to access it from their desktops.

Google has also made it possible to edit in real-time in Microsoft Office. Users will be able to work on Office files in G Suite without having to convert file types. And, to make searching for files and data easier, G Suite now allows users to add metadata to any file in Drive.

Google is also making it easier for G Suite customers to search third-party data sources — like Salesforce — from Cloud Search, expanding the data capabilities of Sheets, offering a cloud telephone service that gives users a phone number that works from any device and more. In the coming months, Google will expand G Suite’s Add-Ons to work with more third-party apps, including Copper, Workfront and Box.

You can find a full list of G Suite’s latest updates here, and if you’re one of the 5 million businesses that works with G Suite, you can begin testing most of these features immediately.