Learn more about the Google Tensor from the people that designed it.

The Pixel 6 is official, with a wild new camera design, incredible pricing, and the new Android 12 OS. The headline component of the device has to be the Google Tensor "system on chip" (SoC), however. This is Google's first main SoC in a smartphone, and the chip has a unique CPU core configuration and a strong focus on AI capabilities.

 

Since when is Google a chip manufacturer, though? What are the goals of Tensor SoC? Why was it designed in its unique way? To get some answers, we sat down with members of the "Google Silicon" team—a name I don't think we've heard before.

 

Google Silicon is a group responsible for mobile chips from Google. That means the team designed previous Titan M security chips in the Pixel 3 and up, along with the Pixel Visual Core in the Pixel 2 and 3. The group has been working on main SoC development for three or four years, but it remains separate from the Cloud team's silicon work on things like YouTube transcoding chips and Cloud TPUs.

 

Phil Carmack is the vice president and general manager of Google Silicon, and Monika Gupta is the senior director on the team. Both were nice enough to tell us a bit more about Google's secretive chip.

 

Most mobile SoC vendors license their chip architecture from ARM, which also offers some (optional) guidelines on how to design a chip using its cores. And, apart from Apple, most of these custom designs stick pretty closely to these guidelines. This year, the most common design is a chip with one big ARM Cortex-X1 core, three medium A78 cores, and four slower, lower-power A55 cores for background processing.

 

Now wrap your mind around what Google is doing with the Google Tensor: the chip still has four A55s for the small cores, but it has two Arm Cortex-X1 CPUs at 2.8 GHz to handle foreground processing duties.

 

For "medium" cores, we get two 2.25 GHz A76 CPUs. (That's A76, not the A78 everyone else is using—these A76s are the "big" CPU cores from last year.) When Arm introduced the A78 design, it said that the core—on a 5nm process—offered 20 percent more sustained performance in the same thermal envelope compared to the 7nm A76. Google is now using the A76 design but on a 5nm chip, so, going by ARM's description, Google's A76 should put out less heat than an A78 chip. Google is basically spending more thermal budget on having two big cores and less on the medium cores.

 

So the first question for the Google Silicon team is: what's up with this core layout?

 

Carmack's explanation is that the dual-X1 architecture is a play for efficiency at "medium" workloads. "We focused a lot of our design effort on how the workload is allocated, how the energy is distributed across the chip, and how the processors come into play at various points in time," Carmack said. "When a heavy workload comes in, Android tends to hit it hard, and that's how we get responsiveness."

 

This is referring to the "rush to sleep" behavior most mobile chipsets exhibit, where something like loading a webpage has everything thrown at it so the task can be done quickly and the device can return to a lower-power state quickly.

 

"When it's a steady-state problem where, say, the CPU has a lighter load but it's still modestly significant, you'll have the dual X1s running, and at that performance level, that will be the most efficient," Carmack said.

 

He gave a camera view as an example of a "medium" workload, saying that you "open up your camera and you have a live view and a lot of really interesting things are happening all at once. You've got imaging calculations. You've got rendering calculations. You've got ML [machine learning] calculations, because maybe Lens is on detecting images or whatever. During situations like that, you have a lot of computation, but it's heterogeneous."

 

A quick aside: "heterogeneous" here means using more bits of the SoC for compute than just the CPU, so in the case of Lens, that means CPU, GPU, ISP (the camera co-processor), and Google's ML co-processor.

Carmack continued, "You might use the two X1s dialed down in frequency so they're ultra-efficient, but they're still at a workload that's pretty heavy. A workload that you normally would have done with dual A76s, maxed out, is now barely tapping the gas with dual X1s."

 

The camera is a great case study, since previous Pixel phones have failed at exactly this kind of task. The Pixel 5 and 5a both regularly overheat after three minutes of 4K recording. I'm not allowed to talk too much about this right now, but I did record a 20 minute, 4K, 60 FPS video on a Pixel 6 with no overheating issues. (I got bored after 20 minutes.)

 

So, is Google pushing back on the idea that one big core is a good design? The idea of using one big core has only recently popped up in Arm chips, after all. We used to have four "big" cores and four "little" cores without any of this super-sized, single-core "prime" stuff.

 

"It all comes down to what you're trying to accomplish," Carmack said. "I'll tell you where one big core versus two wins: when your goal is to win a single-threaded benchmark. You throw as many gates as possible at the one big core to win a single-threaded benchmark... If you want responsiveness, the quickest way to get that, and the most efficient way to get high-performance, is probably two big cores."

 

Carmack warned that this "could evolve depending on how efficiency is mapped from one generation to the next," but for the X1, Google claims that this design is better.

 

"The single-core performance is 80 percent faster than our previous generation; the GPU performance is 370 percent faster than our previous generation. I say that because people are going to ask that question, but to me, that's not really the story," Carmack explained. "I think the one thing you can take away from this part of the story is that although we're a brand-new entry into the SoC space, we know how to make high-frequency, high-performance circuits that are dense, fast, and capable... Our implementation is rock solid in terms of frequencies, in terms of frequency per watt, all of that stuff. That's not a reason to build an all-new Tensor SoC."

 The “Google Silicon” team gives us a tour of the Pixel 6’s Tensor SoC

At its event today, Google announced the release of Android 12, one of the biggest upgrades to the mobile operating system in a few years. As is typical with Android releases, owners of a Pixel 3 or above are being prioritised and will get the upgrade on their devices today.

This update focuses on three main areas: personality, privacy and ease of use. In terms of making the experience personal, the entire Android 12 experience changes to match whichever wallpaper you pick. The new design language is called Material You, it updates all aspects of the phone to match the wallpaper you pick. You’ll notice alterations on your lockscreen, notifications, settings, widgets and even in apps to make the Android experience feel a lot more coherent.

In order to make Android 12 more personal to those with disabilities, Google has added new accessibility settings such as a window magnifier that lets you zoom in on a part of your screen while preserving the rest of the screen context. If your minimum brightness setting is still too bright, you can turn on extra dim screen lighting and if you’re having trouble reading text, you can enable bold text or turn on grayscale to make the job a bit easier.

The next big change to Android 12 is the improvements to privacy that it brings. For example, you can now see when an app is using your microphone or camera with a new indicator in the status bar, you can stop either of these sensors from being used via toggles in Quick Settings. Other options allow you to provide a fuzzy location, check your privacy permissions at a glance through the privacy dashboard and unused apps will have to ask you to approve permissions again.

In terms of making things easier, Android 12 allows you to take scrolling screenshots so you can grab a whole app in one shot, you can play games while they download, Wi-Fi credentials can be shared with Nearby Share and it’s now easier to switch to Android using just a Wi-Fi connection or a cable if you’re switching from iPhone.

To learn more about Android 12, head over to the Android website. Samsung Galaxy, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Tecno, Vivo and Xiaomi devices will start to get Android 12 later this year.

Google releases Android 12 for Pixel 3 devices and above

Google Pixel 6 USA pricing leaks online, cheaper than its predecessor

A 20 minute hands-on video with the Microsoft Surface Duo 2

Microsoft is now pushing the October 2021 update to the Surface Duo smartphone, taking the build number 2021.913.25 (North America), 2021.913.26 (Europe) and 2021.913.27 (AT&T Locked Device). The update adds no new features, as you’d expect from a monthly security update.

The update weighs in at 51 MB and contains the October 2021 Android security update. You can read the official changelog below.

Changelog

Meanwhile, Surface Duo users can wait for the update to be pushed out to them, or they can download it by Checking for Updates in the System Update section of the Settings app. It’s worth noting that the Surface Duo is yet to get the Android 11 update but Microsoft has promised to deliver it some time this year.

Surface Duo starts getting October 2021 update

One of the advantages of buying a Pixel phone is that you get software support for a long time, and more importantly, you get them in a timely manner. However, when it comes to software support, it’s Samsung that promises to deliver updates for four years, which is more than what others are currently offering. This may change soon as Google will reportedly push four major Android updates to the Pixel 6 series and one year of extended security updates—that’s five years of software support if you do the math.

Rumors of the Pixel 6 getting five years of software support have been doing the rounds for the last couple of days, but we didn’t have the clarity on what the rumors actually mean until reliable tipster SnoopyTech did the hard work for us. Confirming the rumors to be true, the tipster says that Google Pixel 6 series will get four OS upgrades and five years of security patches. The tipster also claims that multiple sources verified the information.

However, we don’t know whether the new update scheme covers old Pixel smartphones as well. But as for the Pixel 6 series, it will get Android 13, 14, 15, 16, and it’s expected that Google will deliver these updates in a timely manner, thus continuing the tradition.

If Google manages to pull it off, the company will have an edge over its competitors like Samsung primarily because of two reasons: Samsung currently offers two to three major updates to some of its Galaxy smartphones and four years of security patches, and the other reason is that Samsung has earned notoriety in delaying the delivery of security patches. Pixel smartphones are unlikely to face any of the issues.

Meanwhile, Google will hold a special event on October 19 to launch a plethora of new devices, including Pixel 6, the new Pixel Watch, new Nest speakers. Rumors also suggest that Google also has plans to showcase the much-hyped Pixel Fold at the event. Of course, only time will tell whether these rumors are true.

via 9to5google

Google Pixel 6 to reportedly get four major Android updates and five years of security patches

Currently, WhatsApp allows you to create backups of all your chats and store them on online storage services. For iOS users, your backups are stored on iCloud, and for Android, they are stored on Google Drive.

While conversations on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted (e2ee), the backups stored on cloud services are not and could theoretically be accessed by anyone who has access to your phone or takes it over via a SIM swap attack.

By backing up your chats, if WhatsApp is ever installed again on your current device or a new one, the app will restore your backed-up chat messages.

WhatsApp gets end-to-end encrypted chat backups

Starting today, Facebook announced that WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature where you can perform end-to-end encryption of your chat backups, regardless of where they are stored.

While this feature is not rolled out to everyone yet, users will be able to assign a password that only they know to be used to encrypt backups before they are uploaded to iCloud or Google Drive.

"You can now secure your end-to-end encrypted backup with either a password of your choice or a 64-digit encryption key that only you know," Facebook announced today.

"Neither WhatsApp nor your backup service provider will be able to read your backups or access the key required to unlock it."

Users must also use this same password to restore any backups in the future, preventing them from being accessed by anyone else.

Facebook states that they are rolling this feature out slowly to those running the latest version of WhatsApp, so it may take some time before it reaches everyone.

When it is rolled out to your device, you can enable WhatsApp end-to-end encrypted backups using these steps:

1. Open WhatsApp.
2. Open Settings.
3. Tap Chats > Chat Backup > End-to-end Encrypted Backup.
4. Tap Continue, then follow the prompts and enter a password or key when asked.
5. Tap Done, and wait for WhatsApp to prepare your end-to-end encrypted backup. While creating an encrypted backup, the app may prompt you to connect your device to power.

Once end-to-end encrypted backups are enabled, you will not be able to restore any backups to your device without knowing the password.

You can always disable this feature by going back into the End-to-end Encrypted Backup setting and turning it off.

WhatsApp rolls out iOS, Android end-to-end encrypted chat backups

Samsung: Behind the Scenes of How Samsung Tests the Galaxy Z Fold3 | Flip3 5G

Samsung tries to prove its foldable phones are tough in a new test video

Apple releases iOS 15.0.2 with some Find My fixes

It’s still 10 days before the official launch of the Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, but someone forgot to tell Carphone Warehouse, as they have already published microsites for both devices.

 

First image of article image gallery. Please visit the source link to see all images.

 

The selling points of the Google Pixel 6 are:

• Pixel 6 is powered by Google Tensor, the first processor custom?made for Pixel. It’s fast, smart and secure. And it adapts to you.
  • Pixel’s very own powerhouse.
  • Google’s new custom-built chip keeps your phone fast, your games rich and your personal info safe.
  • Up to 80% faster performance, so apps load quicker and gaming is more responsive. Plus, it saves power so your battery lasts longer.
• Brand new cameras for your best photos ever.
  • Capture more light and detail in every shot,1 get rid of distractions,2 and keep fast-moving subjects in focus.
  • Google Tensor’s custom image processor lets Pixel’s brand new camera capture fun times and starry nights just how you remember them
  • The brand new 50-megapixel camera has bigger sensors to help you capture more colour, more detail and 150% more light than Pixel 5.
  • And with the ultrawide lens on the back, get even more of your world in the shot.
  • Magic Eraser makes distractions disappear with a few taps. Remove strangers and unwanted objects in Google Photos, so the people and places that you capture remain the true stars.
  • Portraits on Pixel highlight all people and the nuances of different skin tones beautifully and authentically.
  • Motion Mode helps you capture crazy skateboarding tricks and wild beach waves in full motion. And add extra depth to make the scene come to life even more.
  • Turn great moments into great photos with Face Unblur, which can de-blur a face to make it sharper
• Fast, smart and personalised for you.
  • Experience Pixel in a whole new way, with an all-day adaptive battery,3 proactive help and fluent Live Translate.
• Advanced security helps you feel safe every day.
  • Backed by the new Titan M2™ security chip, five years of updates and Security hub, your privacy and protection is built into Pixel.
  • Google Tensor has an extra layer of protection and works with the next-gen Titan M2™ security chip to keep Pixel even more resilient to attacks.
• An all-day battery you’ll love.
  • Prioritises power for your favourite apps.
  • Pixel’s all-day Adaptive Battery is everything a battery should be. It learns your favourite apps, so it doesn’t waste power on ones you rarely use
  • When you turn on Extreme Battery Saver, the battery can last up to 48 hours, so there’s power when you really need it. You can even control which apps run while it’s on.
• Ready for life’s little accidents.
  • Pixel 6 is built from Corning® Gorilla® Glass Victus,™ the toughest Gorilla Glass yet, with up to 2x better scratch resistance than previous Pixel phones.
  • And with IP68 protection, it can take on water and dust with no problems.2 So it’s just as durable as it is beautiful.
• The display adapts to you.
  • The 6.4″ Smooth Display adjusts to what you’re doing.3 Its high refresh rate means more responsive gaming and scrolling. And high brightness mode lets you watch and play in bright sunlight.
• A beautiful new experience that adapts to match your style.
  • The reimagined interface is a whole new way to experience Pixel, with colours that reflect your personal style.
  • Pixel learns what you need and puts it front and centre.
  • At a Glance shows you the apps and info that you need, right when you need it – like when you get to the airport, your boarding pass will pop up on your screen
• Easily call for help in emergencies.
  • In an emergency, Pixel can automatically call for help, share your location or record a video. It can also detect if you may have been in a car crash and call for help if you’re unable to respond.
• Switching is simple.
  • It only takes a few steps to move your favourites from your old mobile phone and get going on Pixel. Just use the Quick Switch adaptor to transfer messages, contacts and photos to your new device.
• Even the wireless charger is smart.
  • The new Pixel Stand is twice as powerful. And while your Pixel 6 is charging, you can use it as a smart display to see pictures from Google Photos or control your smart home.
  • Charge your Google products and other USB-C® devices quickly with the 30 W USB-C® Charger. And it’s compact enough to take wherever you go.
• Protect your phone beautifully.
  • The Pixel 6 Case is made with a translucent material that lets the phone shine through, and it’s thoughtfully designed with over 30% recycled plastics
• Better protection with security updates.
  • Security risks are constantly evolving. To protect you and your sensitive data against these threats, Pixel comes with at least 5 years of updates, so it gets more secure over time.

The selling points for the Google Pixel 6 Pro are:

 

First image of article image gallery. Please visit the source link to see all images.

 

• Pixel 6 Pro The smartest and fastest Pixel yet
• Google Tensor, Google’s first custom-built chip.
  • The first processor designed by Google and made for Pixel, Google Tensor takes performance to a whole new level.
  • Google’s advanced on-device AI for enhanced photos, videos, language translation and more
  • Up to 80% faster performance for rich graphics, faster-loading apps and more responsive gaming
• Camera
  • The most advanced Pixel camera ever.
  • Capture brilliant colour and vivid detail with Pixel’s computational photography and new pro-level lenses.
  • Built-in computational photography with features like Night Sight, Portrait Mode and Magic Eraser
    • Use Magic Eraser to remove photobombers and unwanted objects, so that your subject is the star.
    • Catch the action and see faces clearly with Face Unblur, which can deblur a face to make it sharper.
    • Portraits on Pixel highlight all people and the nuances of different skin tones beautifully and authentically.
  • Capture brilliant colour, vivid detail and beautiful, authentic skin tones with new pro-level lenses.
  • Captures 150% more light. The new, larger main sensor captures the most light ever in a Pixel, for finer detail and richer colour, plus faster, more accurate Night Sight photos.
  • Get up close with 4x optical zoom. Pixel 6 Pro includes a telephoto lens with 4x optical zoom. Super Res Zoom lets you zoom up to 20x.
  • Get everyone in the shot. Take big group selfies or see more of your surroundings with the Ultrawide 94° field-of-view front camera
• Battery
  • Redesigned for more powerful performance.
  • With faster apps and pages, an all-day battery and proactive help, Pixel 6 Pro delivers what you need when you need it.
  • Chip-enabled maximum power efficiency for great battery life
  • Pixel’s battery allocates power to the apps that you use most to last beyond 24 hours, even on 5G.
  • Charges up to 50% in just 30 minutes with Google 30 W USB-C® Charger (sold separately)
  • Pixel charges fast and wirelessly, and it can charge other devices with Battery Share
  • The new Pixel Stand is twice as powerful. And while your phone is charging, you can use it to see pictures from Google Photos or control your smart devices.
• Google Shield
  • Most hardware security layers in any phone.
  • Pixel 6 Pro keeps your personal data safe with the new Google Tensor processor and next-gen Titan M2™ security.
• Designed for daily life.
  • The 6.7-inch Smooth Display is made with Corning® Gorilla® Glass Victus,™ the toughest Gorilla Glass yet, with up to 2x better scratch than previousPixel phones.
  • And with IP68 protection, it can take a little water and dust.
  • Made with translucent material that lets the phone shine through, this case is thoughtfully designed with over 30% post-consumer recycled plastics.
• Made for optimal performance.
  • Enjoy more responsive gaming and scrolling with a 120 Hz refresh rate and LTPO technology that lowers to 10 Hz to save battery.
• A fresh new look
  • The reimagined interface is a whole new way to experience Pixel, with colours that reflect your personal style.
  • At a Glance intuitively surfaces your upcoming events, reminders and more –like your boarding pass when you arrive at the airport.
• Better protection with security updates.
• Security risks are constantly evolving. To protect you and your sensitive data against these threats, Pixel comes with at least 5 years of updates, so it gets more secure over time.
• Switching is simple.
  • It only takes a few steps to move your favourites from your old mobile phone and get going on Pixel. Just use the Quick Switch adaptor to transfer messages, contacts and photos to your new device.
• Wireless charging with twice the power.

via Evan Blass

Retailer publishes all the details of the Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

(To view the article's image galleries, please visit the above link)

After teasing its upcoming Pixel 6 series for the last couple of weeks, Google finally informed us about the official launch date yesterday. While there is a lot that makes us excited about the new Pixel 6 phones, not everyone will be able to buy them.

According to famous Indian tipster Ishan Agarwal, the Google Pixel 6 series will be available in select countries, including the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Japan, Taiwan. The smartphone will be available in these countries at launch, though the Mountain View company may also bring it to more markets at a later date.

Sources say that the Google Pixel 6(8GB/128GB) will cost €650, but the pricing of the 256GB variant of the smartphone is still unknown. The base model of the Pixel 6 Pro, on the other hand, will set you back €900. The Pixel 6 Pro will also be available in various configurations, including 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB storage.

GOOGLE PIXEL 6 RUMORED SPECS

Google Pixel 6 is rumored to feature a 6.67-inch curved AMOLED display, in the top middle of which a single punch-hole cutout resides. It’s currently not known whether or not the display will have support for a high refresh rate. It will be the first smartphone to be powered by Google’s own Tensor chip coupled with 8GB of RAM.

The smartphone rocks a triple camera setup, a primary wide-angle camera, a periscope telephoto camera, and an unknown camera, which are accompanied by an LED flash. The camera module also includes 50MP primary and 12MP Ultra-wide cameras. For taking selfies, you get a 12MP front-facing selfie camera.

Other features include dual stereo speakers, wireless charging, a 4614mAh battery, IP68 dust, and water protection, an under-display fingerprint scanner.

Meanwhile, Google is readying Pixel 6 for a launch on October 19.

Google Pixel 6 will be available in select countries

A new UI for Android

Material You – Android 12 introduces a new design language called Material You, helping you to build more personalized, beautiful apps. To bring all of the latest Material Design 3 updates into your apps, try an alpha version of Material Design Components and watch for support for Jetpack Compose coming soon.

Redesigned widgets – We refreshed app widgets to make them more useful, beautiful, and discoverable. Try them with new interactive controls, responsive layouts for any device, and dynamic colors to create a personalized but consistent look. More here.

Notification UI updates – We also refreshed notification designs to make them more modern and useful. Android 12 also decorates custom notifications with standard affordances to make them consistent with all other notifications. More here.

Stretch overscroll – To make scrolling your app’s content more smooth, Android 12 adds a new “stretch” overscroll effect to all scrolling containers. It’s a natural scroll-stop indicator that’s common across the system and apps. More here.

App launch splash screens – Android 12 also introduces splash screens for all apps. Apps can customize the splash screen in a number of ways to meet their unique branding needs. More here.

Performance

Faster, more efficient system performance – We reduced the CPU time used by core system services by 22% and the use of big cores by 15%. We’ve also improved app startup times and optimized I/O for faster app loading, and for database queries we’ve improved CursorWindow by as much as 49x for large windows.

Optimized foreground services – To provide a better experience for users, Android 12 prevents apps from starting foreground services while in the background. Apps can use a new expedited job in JobScheduler instead. More here.

More responsive notifications – Android 12’s restriction on notification trampolines helps reduce latency for apps started from a notification. For example, the Google Photos app now launches 34% faster after moving away from notification trampolines. More here.

Performance class – Performance Class is a set of device capabilities that together support demanding use-cases and higher quality content on Android 12 devices. Apps can check for a device’s performance class at runtime and take full advantage of the device’s performance. More here.

Faster machine learning – Android 12 helps you make the most of ML accelerators and always get the best possible performance through the Neural Networks API. ML accelerator drivers are also now updatable outside of platform releases, through Google Play services, so you can take advantage of the latest drivers on any compatible device.

Privacy

Privacy Dashboard – A new dashboard in Settings gives users better visibility over when your app accesses microphone, camera, and location data. More here.

Approximate location – Users have even more control over their location data, and they can grant your app access to approximate location even if it requests precise location. More here.

Microphone and camera indicators – Indicators in the status bar let users know when your app is using the device camera or microphone. More here.

Microphone and camera toggles – On supported devices, new toggles in Quick Settings make it easy for users to instantly disable app access to the microphone and camera. More here.

Nearby device permissions – Your app can use new permissions to scan for and pair with nearby devices without needing location permission. More here.

Better user experience tools

Rich content insertion – A new unified API lets you receive rich content in your UI from any source: clipboard, keyboard, or drag-and-drop. For back-compatibility, we’ve added the unified API to AndroidX. More here.

Support for rounded screen corners – Many modern devices use screens with rounded corners. To deliver a great UX on these devices, you can use new APIs to query for corner details and then manage your UI elements as needed. More here.

AVIF image support – Android 12 adds platform support for AV1 Image File Format (AVIF). AVIF takes advantage of the intra-frame encoded content from video compression to dramatically improve image quality for the same file size when compared to older image formats, such as JPEG.

Compatible media transcoding – For video, HEVC format offers significant improvements in quality and compression and we recommend that all apps support it. For apps that can’t, the compatible media transcoding feature lets your app request files in AVC and have the system handle the transcoding. More here.

Easier blurs, color filters and other effects – new APIs make it easier to apply common graphics effects to your Views and rendering hierarchies. You can use RenderEffect to apply blurs, color filters, and more to RenderNodes or Views. You can also create a frosted glass effect for your window background using a new Window.setBackgroundBlurRadius() API, or use blurBehindRadius to blur all of the content behind a window.

Enhanced haptic experiences – Android 12 expands the tools you can use to create informative haptic feedback for UI events, immersive and delightful effects for gaming, and attentional haptics for productivity. More here.

New camera effects and sensor capabilities – New vendor extensions let your apps take advantage of the custom camera effects built by device manufacturers—bokeh, HDR, night mode, and others. You can also use new APIs to take full advantage of ultra high-resolution camera sensors that use Quad / Nona Bayer patterns. More here.

Better debugging for native crashes – Android 12 gives you more actionable diagnostic information to make debugging NDK-related crashes easier. Apps can now access detailed crash dump files called tombstones through the App Exit Reasons API.

Android 12 for Games – With Game Mode APIs, you can react to the players’ performance profile selection for your game – like better battery life for a long commute, or performance mode to get peak frame rates. Play as you download will allow game assets to be fetched in the background during install, getting your players into gameplay faster.

Source: Google

Google releases Android 12, check out the list of new features

About two months ago, Mozilla rolled out an update for Firefox Nightly on Android, and introduced a feature called Inactive Tabs. It  was meant to help users, by automatically marking tabs as inactive.

Mozilla's intention was good, the execution, not so much. Let me explain, this is the tab switcher screen in the stable channel of Firefox.

And here's what the Inactive Tabs panel looked like about 2 months ago. I took the screenshot in August, in the week that the update was released, but have been using Firefox Nightly as my primary browser.

Firefox Nightly displays a list of the inactive tabs as a long list. The currently opened tabs are displayed at the top of the inactive list. The tab switcher always starts at the bottom of the list, meaning you have to scroll all the way up to reach the active tabs, every single time. This was annoying, but the worst part was that there was no option to disable the "feature", i.e., until today, and several users voiced their concern.

There was another unwanted change that this release brought with it. Users also complained that it interfered with the tab removal setting and discarded tabs that hadn't been active for a month. This option had been enabled by default, which meant many users lost their old tabs when they updated to that version of Firefox Nightly. As expected, there was some backlash from irate users, after which Mozilla added an option to disable the behavior, allowing users to discard tabs manually. If you prefer to have tabs closed automatically, you may set it to close tabs after a day, a week, or a month.

It's hard enough for Mozilla to compete in a world dominated by Chrome, and Chromium browsers. Changes like these are only going to come in the way of the current user base and drive them away.

The good news is that today the developers released a new update for Firefox Nightly on Android, that lets us disable the Inactive Tabs panel completely (related issue on GitHub). It's about time. The change isn't automatic though, so you'll need to edit a setting manually to get the good-old tab switcher view back.

How to disable Inactive Tabs in Firefox Nightly

1. Open the tab switcher, by tapping the number button in the bottom right corner of the screen.

2. Tap the three-dot menu button in the top right, to view the tab management menu.

3. Select Tab Settings.

4. Toggle the option under Inactive Tabs, to disable the tray.

Note: The new option is available in Firefox Nightly 94.0a1 (Build #2015837163).

Mozilla is also working on a "tab unloader experiment", which seems similar to the sleeping tabs feature in Edge (Tab Freeze), which will discard inactive tabs from the memory.

Firefox Nightly on Android now lets you disable the Inactive Tabs tray

Apple release iOS 15.0.1 with Unlock with Apple Watch fix, more

Samsung drops ads from more stock apps

As noted by 9to5Mac, Apple - in its infinite grace that we should all be thankful for, really - has finally enabled the ability to rate its own apps. Apart from finally making the App Store a relatively more level playing field for developers competing with the tech giant's offerings, it also allows consumers to tell Apple what they love or hate about its apps.

You can view ratings for individual apps developed by Apple on the dedicated webpage here or through the App Store available on your iOS device. While some apps like iTunes Remote have a very favorable 4.6/5 rating after 28,000 reviews, others like Apple News are at an abysmal 2.3/5 score after a handful of reviews from people airing their grievances at the firm. Of course, reviews have only started coming in so expect them to stabilize within a few days. Some stock apps like Phone and Messages do not have App Store listings, so they are exempt from this process.

In its infinite grace, Apple finally lets users rate its apps

Google is giving the finishing touches to its upcoming Google Pixel 6 series, and while phone makers usually try not to give details of their upcoming products, the Mountain View tech giant has been telling about the new generation Pixel 6 for a couple of weeks. The company, however, hasn’t given away everything, including the pricing and other key details. Luckily for us, the rumor mills have done their job and have revealed pretty much everything, some of which Google may have wanted to remain secret until launch.

Today’s rumor sheds some light on the pricing of the Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro smartphones. According to M. Brandon Lee of This is Tech Today, someone inside a major European Carrier has somehow managed to get the details about the pricing of the upcoming Pixel series.

The source says that the Google Pixel 6(8GB/128GB) will cost €650, but the pricing of the 256GB variant of the smartphone is still unknown. The base model of the Pixel 6 Pro, on the other hand, will set you back €900. The Pixel 6 Pro will also be available in various configurations, including 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB storage. All the Pixel 6 Pro variants will have 12GB of RAM.

It’s interesting that buyers will have to pay €250 more than the price of the base model of Pixel 6 in order to get the “Pro” model. A better camera system, high-refresh screen, UWB connectivity, are some of the features that might justify the high asking price of the Pro model.

The latest leak has not only given us the details about the pricing but also provided some information on the color option the Pixel 6 series will be available in. The Pixel 6 will be available in what Google calls “Fog” and “Carbon,” while the Pro model will have the only “Carbon” option. Color options are likely to vary depending on where you live. Meanwhile, you can track all the Pixel 6 related news here.

GOOGLE PIXEL 6 RUMORED SPECS

Google Pixel 6 is rumored to feature a 6.67-inch curved AMOLED display, in the top middle of which a single punch-hole cutout resides. It’s currently not known whether or not the display will have support for a high refresh rate. It will be the first smartphone to be powered by Google’s own Tensor chip coupled with 8GB of RAM.

The smartphone rocks a triple camera setup, a primary wide-angle camera, a periscope telephoto camera, and an unknown camera, which are accompanied by an LED flash. The camera module also includes 50MP primary and 12MP Ultra-wide cameras. For taking selfies, you get a 12MP front-facing selfie camera.

Other features include dual stereo speakers, wireless charging, a 4614mAh battery, IP68 dust, and water protection, an under-display fingerprint scanner.

Google Pixel 6 series is expected to launch on October 19.

Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro pricing revealed

New dual-pane tablet interface splits UI right down the middle.

Android 12 is not even out yet, but we already need to talk about Android 12.1, a rumored point release that would presumably arrive shortly after Android 12 and the Pixel 6 hit the market. The current thinking is that Google is working on a pair of Samsung-style foldable Pixel phones, which would ship with a smaller Android release. These are expected to come out—maybe—before the end of the year, development time and chip shortages allowing.

 

Dual pane settings are back!

 

Dual-pane notifications.

 

Both of these are just two phone interfaces next to each other, so if we adjust the screen aspect ratio to be "two phones next to each other," we get a much better looking interface.

 

There's nothing official about the name "Android 12.1," but the puzzle pieces here aren't hard to fit together. Every Android release gets an API level for app developers. Unlike the marketing-controlled version number, the API level is designed to be predictable and goes up "1" for each new platform release, regardless of the size of each release. Android 12 is "API level 31," but Android 13—due out this time next year—was recently bumped to API level 33 in the public Android repository. Google made a space in between Android 12 and 13 for a new release. Everyone is unofficially calling that release "Android 12.1," following the maintenance release naming conventions Google last used with Android 8.1, which was released in December 2017.

So what's in Android 12.1? Foldables stuff. XDA Developers' Mishaal Rahman has a hands-on with some early code, detailing a ton of tablet and foldable-centric features. We want to stress the "early" part of that "early code" description, because everything looks horrible, but we're here for functionality, not design, right now.

Like the good (and quickly abandoned) Android tablet interfaces of yore, Android 12.1 sees Google return to dual-pane layouts for various bits of the OS interface. The settings screen is back to a dual-pane configuration, which has the top-level settings list on the left and each individual page of settings on the right. The notification panel takes a similar approach, with the quick settings on the left and the normal list of notifications on the right.

All of these dual-pane interfaces use a 50/50 split which is very different from how Google used to do things. Google's first swing at a bigger Android interface was in Android 3.0 Honeycomb, and that was designed for widescreen tablets. Honeycomb had something close to a 33/66 split for app layouts, usually a slimmer navigation panel on the left and a larger content area on the right. This new design emulates the layout split-screen mode for apps, with a right-down-the-middle 50/50 split. Every screenshot is just two phone interfaces next to each other.

XDA's example screenshots use a Galaxy Fold 3 aspect ratio, which is currently our best guess for what a Pixel foldable will look like. The thing is, the Fold seems way too wide for the design that's happening here. If Google is using two side-by-side phone interfaces, it sure seems like the correct aspect ratio for that would be double the width of a normal phone. The Fold 3 is wider than that, which brings up the standard Android issue of it looking ugly on wide devices.

This 50/50 design has the benefit of keeping content out of the hinge area, which usually has a trench or bump in it that can interrupt your swiping finger. That layout is just extremely limiting on how wide you can make a device, since the wider it gets, the uglier Android looks.

Google's leaked dock interface is here, too. The screenshots all have a pinned black bar at the bottom of the screen, making for a hybrid of the iPad's new dock UI and the old Honeycomb bar. Of course, everything could change eventually, but for now, the icons at the bottom just seem to be your recent apps. Being able to pin apps to this bar would be nice, too. The dock, assuming it doesn't auto-hide, will cut into the vertical real-estate apps have access to. Vertical space is currently a big problem for apps on foldables, especially when you aren't in side-by-side app mode.

Recent apps is also getting some work done. Besides the usual scrolling list of thumbnails, one row high, there is now a mode where thumbnails can be two rows high, letting you see more than one app. The screenshot actually shows one big app and then two rows of smaller apps.

More work is also happening around app pairs (shortcuts that launch two apps at the same time) and the split-screen app mode, which now has a new divider. Again, everything is very early and ugly, but Google looks like it wants to replicate curved display edges on the dock and the split-screen app bar. Like with the 50/50 app split, this is a design that could look good on a very specific phone design with similarly rounded corners. But for Android, which has to live on a million different devices, this design seems oddly restrictive.

Again, we have to stress this is very early stuff, and we haven't even seen the Android 12 release yet. Google has a few months still to figure everything out and make it look good.

Listing image by Ron Amadeo

Android 12.1 leak shows off iPad-style dock, dual-pane system UI

According to the WhatsApp tipster, a message can have an infinite amount of reactions, and you’ll be able to select any emoji from the emoji panel. However, when the number of the reactions exceeds 999, the recipient will see 999+. Also, everyone will be able to see who reacted to a message.

However, it is still not clear when the feature will become available for the general public. We remain optimistic that WhatsApp won’t take much longer to add the feature to the stable build. Meanwhile, you can hit the comments section to let us know your thoughts on WhatsApp’s message creation feature.

WhatsApp message reaction will come to Android too

Your iOS 15 iPhone’s battery draining rapidly? This app may be responsible.

RIP Android TV remote app, hello Google TV remote app

In an effort to give users the choice to open websites however they want, Google is working on a feature that allows Chrome users to open the desktop version of websites by default on their Android smartphones.

 

The ability to open the desktop version of a website is not new, what’s new is that users are now going to get the option to open the desktop version of websites by default. The feature will be very helpful particularly in a scenario where you need to use the desktop version of a specific website to get the job done. Instead of selecting the ‘Desktop site’ each time you open the site, you’ll soon be able to tell Google to open the desktop version of that site every time you open it.

 

The ability to open the desktop version of websites is currently available on Chrome Canary and not Chrome Stable. Another caveat is that enabling the option will open the desktop version every time you open a website. On the bright side, however, Google is confirmed to be working towards modifying the feature a bit to allow the users to open only specific sites in the desktop mode. This change is expected to arrive in a future update.

 

As for how you can enable the feature, it will require you to have Chrome Canary installed on your smartphone. Also, since the feature is available behind a flag, you’ll have to ‘Enable‘ a flag called ‘Global setting to request desktop site on Android.’ Now, you can go to Settings >  Site settings > Desktop site. Enable the Desktop site toggle in order to use the feature.

 

 

 

 

It is worth noting that enabling the feature won’t snatch away the ‘Desktop site’ checkbox from the three-dot menu. If you want to switch to the mobile version you can easily do that by unchecking the checkbox.

Chrome is not the first browser to get the feature, however. Microsoft recently added the same feature to Edge Canary and Dev channels. If you’re using the feature both on Chrome Canary and Edge Canary/Dev., let us know which browser does it better.

via Leopeva64-2

Google Chrome for Android will soon open desktop version of websites by default

Early this month, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Teams iOS app will soon support Apple CarPlay feature. This support is now available for everyone with the latest Teams update in App Store. You can now connect Teams to CarPlay for handsfree calling and to join your next meeting. You can also join meetings hands-free using Siri.

You can download the app here from Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Teams iOS app gets Apple CarPlay support

Although nobody has spent significant time with the Surface Duo 2, tech experts are appreciative of the fact that the latest Duo addresses all the major complaints of its predecessor. However, there is one thing that everybody wanted Microsoft to change, and that’s the software update policy. A Microsoft representative has recently confirmed to Android Authority that the latest Surface Duo 2 will get the benefit of three years of OS and security updates.

In retrospect, Microsoft promised the same update policy during the launch of Surface Duo—that it would deliver three years of OS and security updates. While three years of updates can be considered decent, its competitors are doing a better job when it comes to software updates. All the latest Galaxy smartphones are eligible to get the benefit from fours years of software updates. To put it in perspective, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 will get fours years of updates, while Surface Duo 2 will stop receiving them three years after launch. You can read our Surface Duo 2 vs Galaxy Z Fold 3 specs battle article here.

It’s worth noting that the first generation Duo is yet to receive the Android 11 update, making it the only premium foldable smartphone that is still running Android 10. On the bright side, however, Surface Duo is confirmed to get the Android 11 update by the end of this year, though the exact release date is still not known.

The new Surface Duo 2 features Dual PixelSense Fusion Displays (5.8” touchscreens open to 8.3”). The displays also support a 90Hz screen refresh rate and are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. The dual-screen smartphone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor and has a triple camera setup, which is consists of a 12 MP telephoto, a 12 MP wide-angle, and a 16 MP ultra-wide. The Surface Duo also has what is called a Glance Bar, allowing you to check incoming calls and messages, adjust the volume, and check battery life while charging. You can check the full Surface Duo specs here.

Microsoft sheds light on its Surface Duo 2 update commitments

If you want to see how your apps run on the Surface Duo 2, or simply want to give the handet a virtual try-out, Microsoft has now made the Surface Duo 2 Android 11 emulator available.

The Surface Duo 2 Android Emulator provides a complete dual-screen experience:

• Running Android 11.
• Simulates the hinge with a 3D modes view.
• Supports Jetpack Window Manager APIs for adaptive UI layouts.
• When used on a touch-screen host device like Microsoft Surface PCs, supports multi-touch and pen sensitivity.
• Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
• Works with Android Studio, Visual Studio, VSCode, and other IDEs used for Android app development.

You can download it here.

The Surface Duo 2 offers a triple camera setup and Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor for improved performance. Microsoft has also introduced a new, larger Dual PixelSense Fusion Displays (5.8” touchscreens open to 8.3”) with 90Hz refresh for great viewing experience. These displays are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass and support Surface Slim Pen.

The new Surface Duo 2 comes with three rear cameras: Wide angle camera, Ultra wide angle camera and Telephoto camera. There is also a ToF sensor for fast auto focus. Microsoft has updated the camera app to take advantage of dual screens. The new Surface Duo Glance Bar allows you to check incoming calls and messages, adjust the volume, and check battery life while charging. See it all on the spine as it lights up with color indicators, icons, and more.

Surface Duo 2 Tech Specs:

The Surface Duo 2 starts at $1499 and you can find the links to pre-order the new Surface devices below.

• Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio
• Microsoft Surface Pro 8
• Microsoft Surface Pro X with Windows 11
• Microsoft Surface Go 3
• Microsoft Surface Duo 2
• Surface Slim Pen 2

Source: Microsoft

Microsoft Surface Duo 2 Android emulator now available