Technology

Honor has announced a commitment to providing seven years of Android OS and security updates to its latest Magic series devices, including the Honor Magic 7 Pro.

The move brings the burgeoning smartphone manufacturer in line with Apple, Samsung, and Google, all of which provide seven years of software and security updates to their respective flagship smartphones (Apple promises at least five years of updates, but the company regularly tends to previous-generation iPhones beyond that period).

Previously, Honor handsets were typically supported with five years of updates. The best honor phones from 2024 – namely the Honor Magic 6 Pro, Honor Magic V3, and Honor 200 Pro – will remain subject to this original commitment, with the recently released Magic 7 Pro becoming the first beneficiary of the company’s new stance.

“By guaranteeing long-term software and security updates, Honor provides Magic Series owners with the confidence that their devices will remain up-to-date, secure, and feature-rich – maximizing the value of their investment and extending the lifespan of the devices,” Honor said in statement accompanying the announcement, which was made at MWC 2025.

It’s clear, then, that the move is as much a display of Honor’s faith in the longevity of its smartphone hardware as it is a commitment to sustainability (it aligns the brand with the EU's Circular Economy and Ecodesign regulations).

Do smartphones need seven years of updates?

The answer to that question has, I think, changed since Apple began offering seven years of updates to its iPhones (Google and Samsung started doing so more recently) – though I suspect that OnePlus would disagree.

In contrast to those brands (and now Honor), OnePlus has committed to offering four years of OS updates and six years of security patches to its latest flagship device, the OnePlus 13, with OnePlus COO Kinder Liu saying in a 2024 interview that longer update policies “miss the point” if the hardware they apply to becomes outdated. Sure, that reads like a self-own (i.e. an admission that OnePlus phones won’t last as long as rival models) but Liu’s point holds water for a certain generation of phones: a six-year-old iPhone XR, for instance, can technically run iOS 18, but that doesn’t mean it’ll do so smoothly.

Of course, an Honor Magic 7 Pro is not an iPhone XR; its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and 12GB RAM will undoubtedly give it longevity that phones from yesteryear simply don’t have. That said, I don’t think Honor is expecting anyone to actually hold on to the same phone for seven years – this is more a case of the company aligning itself with the big boys so it can’t be criticized for not doing so.

Still, the more updates, the merrier. Offering as-long-as-possible update support can only be a good thing for consumers, provided that the hardware in question can indeed live up to the billing in seven years' time. Come back to us in 2032.

You might also like

• Honor’s Magic Portal 2.0 brings game-changing updates to one of the best Android software features
• Honor Magic 7 Pro launches with Deepfake Detection and a 200MP ‘Super Zoom’ camera
• Honor Magic 7 RSR launches with more RAM than the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra combined (yes, really)

You'll still have to take measures to keep your financial information safe from hackers.

For the vast majority of people, shopping for one of the best TVs means shopping for a 4K TV. But I suspect that for the vast majority of that vast majority, the TV they buy won't be fed many 4K shows or movies. And that's important, because I think you should factor that into your buying decisions.

The reason most of your entertainment won't be 4K is because unless you're paying for the most expensive streaming packages, you're likely getting 1080p Full HD (or lower, in some cases: I'm in the UK where streamers such as Now TV delivers 720p as standard).

I'm a cautious buyer, and I grudge paying extra for marginally better streaming resolution – partly on principle but mainly because if you subscribe to multiple of the best streaming services, that extra cash soon adds up, especially as streaming gets more expensive every year. A few years ago, 4K came as standard in many cases, but as ad-based tiers have appeared, it's not guaranteed any more.

And even if you do plump for the Super Awesome Premium Plus packages, not all of the available content is in 4K. For example I watched an Anthony Bourdain show recently on a 4K streaming service; the show was filmed in 2002, apparently using RealVideo, and was so low-res you'd think they'd made it in Minecraft.

We can't travel back in time to make SD shows HD, or HD ones 4K. But with the right TV, we don't have to.

The hidden hero in the best TVs

My Anthony Bourdain show wasn't unwatchable, and my TV deserves all the credit for that: despite being blown up to 65 inches, the picture wasn't too bad. That's because my TV has a good image processor that upscales relatively low-res content well.

Thanks to image processing, Anthony Bourdain's early 2000s tour looks considerably less jaggy on my TV. (Image credit: Prime Video)

As a general rule, the bigger the TV, the more important its upscaling is going to be. Issues that aren't apparent on a 42-inch 4K panel will be terribly obvious on a 65-inch or larger. That's because the smaller panel has a much higher pixel density: both displays are packing 3840x2160 pixels, but the smaller display packs them in much more tightly, so image flaws aren't quite so visible.

We've written a detailed guide to 4K upscaling, which you can find here. But the executive summary is that it works like this: the processor analyzes the signal, applies noise reduction, sharpens anything that needs to be sharpened and, for lower resolution signals, it then converts the signal to 4K resolution (or 8K if you have an 8K TV).

It's far from new technology, but it doesn't get talk about as often as it used too – but it's just as important in the streaming age, especially with some new streaming tiers taking is backwards, as I mentioned above.

Image processing is also important for streaming at any resolution because streaming video isn't lossless: it's optimized for efficient delivery, and that means sacrificing some of the data (which is one reason many movie fans with serious home cinema setups prefer the best 4K Blu-ray players to streaming).

That data optimization can cause visible issues such as noticeable color banding or ugly gradients in darker backgrounds, where instead of a smooth range of colors or near-darkness, you see patches of color with clear dividing lines between them. If you have network congestion, the bitrate can drop and make those issues even more apparent. But with good picture processing your TV can spot those issues and fix them in real time.

How to buy the best TV for upscaling

Price is, inevitably, a big part of this: just like budget phones don't come with the latest and greatest mobile processors, TVs built to a low price aren't likely to have state-of-the-art upscaling.

The very best processing usually turns up in TV makers' flagship models first, especially with household names: the likes of Sony, LG, Samsung, Panasonic and Philips all push their extremely clever image processing systems as key selling points for their latest and greatest televisions.

All TV makers use upscaling tech, but these companies have particularly impressed us, based not only on how well they add sharpness, but in how they manage to reduce color bands – especially Sony, LG and Panasonic when it comes to the latter, though Samsung's 2025 TVs also make a great improvement in this area from our demos so far.

I'm a bit biased, of course, but I'd definitely recommend reading our in-depth reviews of any TVs you're considering: upscaling is one of the key features we look at very carefully, and because we review so many TVs we've got extensive knowledge of what makes upscaling look natural, and what leaves things looking artificial and not making the most of your 4K screen.

But I'd also suggest going to a store, even if you're planning to buy online. That's where you can test different models' upscaling really easily: turn off the retail/demo mode with its over-the-top brightness, contrast and motion smoothing and ask to see something that isn't 4K – and ideally, that isn't even Full HD.

Watching 4K content on a 4K display isn't going to show you how good its image processing system is: it's the lower-res stuff that separates the OK from the awesome.

Honor has overhauled its smartphone strategy to become an “AI device ecosystem company,” and is working on a new type of an intelligent smartphone that will feature “purpose-built, human-centric AI designed to maximize human potential.”

The company’s new CEO, James Li, announced the move – dubbed the Honor Alpha Plan – at MWC 2025, calling on the smartphone industry to “co-create an open, value-sharing AI ecosystem that maximizes human potential, ultimately benefiting all mankind.” Talk about ambition.

This Alpha plan consists of three steps, each catering to a different ‘era’ of AI: namely the Agentic AI era, the Physical AI era, and the AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) era. The first, Honor says, concerns the development of a “super intelligent” smartphone, which the company will create in collaboration with various partners including Qualcomm and Google.

Honor teased various new software tools as part of its presentation – including AI Upscale and a cross-OS file-sharing technology (yes, the ability to share files between iOS and Android devices) – that will feature on its upcoming devices. Some, like AI Upscale, will come to the recently released Honor Magic 7 Pro, too.

Image 1 of 3

Step 1 of the Honor Alpha Plan (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 3

Step 2 of the Honor Alpha Plan (Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 3

Step 3 of the Honor Alpha Plan (Image credit: Future)

For the so-called Physical AI era, Honor hopes “the industry” can collaborate on a shared AI ecosystem to help get the very best out of this potentially paradigm-shifting technology.

“I call on the industry to be truly open so that we can fully embrace this exciting AI future. Let’s do it together,” Li said on stage at MWC. Sure, that’s more than a little vague (does ‘the industry’ mean rival smartphone manufacturers?) but Honor is supposedly investing more than $10 billion into this cross-collaboration idea, so the company is certainly committed to the cause.

Finally, the AGI era will welcome “the co-existence between carbon-based life and silicon-based intelligence,” according to Li. AGI refers to Artificial General Intelligence, an as-yet-unrealized type of AI that matches human cognitive abilities. AGI follows ANI (Artificial Narrow Intelligence), which refers to AI designed to perform specific tasks, and precedes ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence), which refers to AI that’s, ahem, smarter than humans (think Skynet and HAL 9000 – those famously non-threatening systems).

Honor COO Ray Guo announcing the Honor Alpha Plan at MWC 2025 (Image credit: Future)

Jokes aside, Honor’s cross-collaboration ambitions are well-founded. The last few years has seen differently-sized smartphone manufacturers and software companies develop genuinely experience-enhancing AI tools (consider Samsung’s Live Translate tool and Honor’s own Deepfake Detection feature), but they’re scattered across the industry and between devices.

Pigs might fly before Apple and Samsung talk to one another, but Honor’s call to action will no doubt attract the attention of smaller companies with the expertise to accelerate the AI revolution.

In a display of confidence in its existing hardware, Honor also announced a commitment to providing seven years of Android OS and security updates to its latest Magic series devices, including the Magic 7 Pro, at MWC 2025.

You might also like

• Honor’s Magic Portal 2.0 brings game-changing updates to one of the best Android software features
• Honor Magic 7 Pro launches with Deepfake Detection and a 200MP ‘Super Zoom’ camera
• Honor Magic 7 RSR launches with more RAM than the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra combined (yes, really)

At MWC in Barcelona, Honor unveiled a series of new products and announced a whopping $10 billion investment in AI.

The Honor UI Agent—powered by Google's Gemini 2 model—gives us a glimpse of artificial intelligent agents on Android.

The more storage, the better, and this locker looks as good as it performs.

Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Sunday, March 2 (game #1133).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,100 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1134) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1134) - hint #2 - repeated letters Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 3.

Quordle today (game #1134) - hint #3 - uncommon letters Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1134) - hint #4 - starting letters (1) Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1134) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• F

• K

• R

• W

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1134) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1134, are…

• FRILL
• KAYAK
• REBAR
• WORDY

My winning streak is over.

Three pieces of bad luck were my undoing today – I chose ROWDY instead of WORDY, REHAB instead of REBAR, and GRILL instead of FRILL. Some days, it just doesn’t work out and you hit red lights at every junction, other days you sail through with a series of greens – I’m happy if I stall occasionally.

I hope you did better.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Daily Sequence today (game #1134) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1134, are…

• QUACK
• MODAL
• FLESH
• AFIRE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1133, Sunday 2 March: TUNIC, GLOSS, DEBUG, LARGE
• Quordle #1132, Saturday 1 March: DENSE, BONEY, KITTY, SMEAR
• Quordle #1131, Friday 28 February: PASTA, RAZOR, PLUMB, DROOL
• Quordle #1130, Thursday 27 February: THIEF, CHAIR, ETHER, GRIME
• Quordle #1129, Wednesday 26 February: LOVER, SPIED, VAPOR, METER
• Quordle #1128, Tuesday 25 February: TWIST, TWEAK, MEANT, CLEAR
• Quordle #1127, Monday 24 February: LEASH, LEVER, TOTEM, CREME
• Quordle #1126, Sunday 23 February: RABID, RELIC, SCRAM, BASIS
• Quordle #1125, Saturday 22 February: ETHER, SONIC, VAUNT, ROUSE
• Quordle #1124, Friday 21 February: STIFF, PRIZE, SCOWL, DONUT
• Quordle #1123, Thursday 20 February: HASTY, DRAPE, FICUS, CRAZE
• Quordle #1122, Wednesday 19 February: ABATE, TROVE, VENUE, DRAPE
• Quordle #1121, Tuesday 18 February: TAMER, SCRUB, BRICK, DRIFT
• Quordle #1120, Monday 17 February: SADLY, WAFER, LITHE, IDIOM
• Quordle #1119, Sunday 16 February: GHOUL, AFIRE, COVEN, FIERY
• Quordle #1118, Saturday 15 February: CREEP, CONDO, GRILL, FANCY
• Quordle #1117, Friday 14 February: MEDIA, ELUDE, THUMB, WIDOW
• Quordle #1116, Thursday 13 February: SCALP, DWELL, AMPLE, TRUNK
• Quordle #1115, Wednesday 12 February: SHOOK, GRADE, POLAR, SEEDY
• Quordle #1114, Tuesday 11 February: HEAVY, CIRCA, PESKY, SCION

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, March 2 (game #630).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #631) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• LEAF
• LOAF
• ROLL
• BONE
• SCROLL
• BAR
• DINOSAUR
• LOUNGE
• CLUB
• BOLT
• COIN
• REEL
• CHILL
• NUGGET
• RUBBLE
• REST

NYT Connections today (game #631) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Take it easy
• GREEN: Precious metal
• BLUE: Tubes 
• PURPLE: Modern Stone Age family

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #631) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: BE AT LEISURE 
• GREEN: FORMATS OF GOLD 
• BLUE: CYLINDER OF MATERIAL 
• PURPLE: SEEN IN "THE FLINTSTONES" 

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #631) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #631, are…

• YELLOW: BE AT LEISURE CHILL, LOAF, LOUNGE, REST
• GREEN: FORMATS OF GOLD BAR, COIN, LEAF, NUGGET
• BLUE: CYLINDER OF MATERIAL BOLT, REEL, ROLL, SCROLL
• PURPLE: SEEN IN "THE FLINTSTONES" BONE, CLUB, DINOSAUR, RUBBLE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Some days I can stare at the Connections grid for ages and see nothing.

Other days I see it all in an instant. This was the case today, with my only hesitation being the momentary inclusion of SCROLL in what became FORMATS OF GOLD.

Meanwhile, DINOSAUR and RUBBLE automatically made me think of things SEEN IN “THE FLINTSTONES” but I was more certain about CYLINDER OF MATERIAL, so went for that instead. As a fan of The Flintstones who wanted to name their daughter Pebbles (Thankfully overruled) I’m ashamed of my hesitation.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, 2 March, game #630)

• YELLOW: CELLPHONE MODES AIRPLANE, DO NOT DISTURB, RING, VIBRATE
• GREEN: EVADE DODGE, ESCAPE, LOSE, SHAKE
• BLUE: WHAT "W" MIGHT STAND FOR TUNGSTEN, WATT, WEST, WIN
• PURPLE: ___STRING DRAW, HAM, HEART, SHOE

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, March 2 (game #364).

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #365) - hint #1 - today's theme What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… A fungus among-us

NYT Strands today (game #365) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• SHIRE
• HERO
• LOSE 
• CRUSTY
• ROSE
• MINUS

NYT Strands today (game #365) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Edible toadstools

NYT Strands today (game #365) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: bottom, 4th column

Last side: top, 4th column

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #365) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #365, are…

• ENOKI
• BUTTON
• SHIITAKE
• OYSTER
• TRUFFLE
• CREMINI
• SPANGRAM: MUSHROOMS

• My rating: Easy
• My score: 1 hint

If you have never before eaten ENOKI mushrooms (Flammulina filiformis, for any Latin readers) I highly recommend them, especially if you like Asian food.

MUSHROOMS are either butt ugly or cute. With their skinny stems and cartoon-like tiny heads the enoki certainly fall into the cute category.

Meanwhile, the TRUFFLE definitely falls into the ugly pile. What they lack in looks they make up for in unbelievable flavor, but they are rapidly becoming the “salted caramel” of the savory world. You can now get truffle added to everything from chips to cheese.

I’m not complaining, I just fear there are not enough truffles to go round, especially considering how hard they are to harvest (traditionally with a truffle-hunting pig), which makes me suspect we have been overtaken by fake truffles.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday, 2 March, game #364)

• ZIPPER
• VELCRO
• BUTTON
• SNAP
• BUCKLE
• CLASP
• MAGNET
• SPANGRAM: FASTENERS

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

Xiaomi wants its new phone to be a photography champion. But the camera hasn't seen many updates.

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• More iPhone 17 CAD drawings have emerged
• A speaker design could be on the way for certain models
• It's not clear how audio quality will be affected

Audio quality isn't perhaps the first spec you would look out for when choosing a new phone, but it's an important feature nevertheless – and newly leaked schematics suggest the iPhone 17 handsets could be getting a speaker revamp.

These CAD drawings come from well-known tipster @MajinBuOfficial, and have apparently been delivered through an internal source at Apple. They give us a good look at the bottom of the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max.

While nothing much seems to be changing with the standard iPhone 17 compared to the iPhone 16, both the iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone 17 Pro Max are apparently getting the same number of speaker holes on each side.

As our iPhone 16 Pro review and iPhone 16 Pro Max review will tell you, the speaker configuration is currently asymmetrical on either side of the USB-C port. It would seem that this year Apple is going to even everything out.

Coming in September

3D CAD of the iPhone 17 models reveal a redesign of the speakers. The Pro and Pro Max models now have the same number of speakers per side, while the iPhone 17 Air comes with just 2 speakers per side. The speaker configuration remains unchanged on the standard iPhone 17. pic.twitter.com/b2UVYKlC5FMarch 1, 2025

The iPhone 17 Air is a brand new model this year, so we've got nothing to compare it with, but it sports just two speaker holes on either side – perhaps a sign of the component cutting Apple has had to do in order to make it as slim as possible.

Exactly how this is going to affect the speaker configuration or the quality of the audio is hard to say based on schematics alone, but it seems that the Pro and Pro Max phones may come with a few sound upgrades attached.

The iPhone 17 leaks really are beginning to pile up now. Renders that have previously appeared online suggest we're going to get four phones that look significantly different to their predecessors, especially in terms of the camera module.

A variety of different internal upgrades have also been rumored, but of course none of this is certain until the phones are officially unveiled – which, if Apple sticks to its usual schedule this year, will be sometime in September.

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• Video recording could be a big iPhone 17 feature
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• Apple's newest chip may skip the iPhone 17

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Once thought a casualty of the ever-increasing picture quality of phone cameras, standalone digital cameras are making a comeback.