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

iOS 15 builds in better customer support for in-app purchases

At the annual Surface event, Microsoft has announced the new Surface Duo 2 with new features and an improved experience. Like the original device, the Surface Duo 2 features two 5.8-inch, 1344 x 1892 OLED screens that are connected by a hinge, giving user an 8.3-inch display with 90Hz refresh rate. Microsoft has also added a slight curve at the edge giving users an option to quickly glance the missed notifications, time and more. Both the displays on the Surface Duo 2 are covered with Corning glass for better protection.

The device is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC which adds 5G support to the device. Apart from that, the device also features Qi wireless charging and NFC. One of the biggest areas of improvement is the camera. While the first-generation Duo featured a single camera, the new Surface Duo 2 features a triple-camera setup that includes a 16MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera, a 12MP f/1.7 wide camera with OIS and a 12MP f/2.4 telephoto camera that also supports OIS.

Like other Surface devices, Surface Duo 2 will have support for Surface Slim S Pens. Microsoft has also added an option to stick the S Pen to the side of the device for easy storage when the pen is not in use. Microsoft has also made other optimizations including better dual screen app support and more. These changes are aimed at improving the productivity, which is still Microsoft's main focus.

However, the Redmond giant also talked about the gaming performance on the Duo 2. Microsoft claims that there are over 150 games that are optimized for the Surface Duo 2 including Asphalt Legends 9, Modern Combat 5, and Dungeon Hunter 5. The Surface Duo 2 will be shipping with Android 11 out-of-the-box.

Microsoft has not disclosed the actual battery life, but the company claims that the Surface Duo 2 can last a day on a single charge. The Surface Duo 2 is priced at $1499.99 and is available for pre-order selected markets starting today.

Microsoft announces Surface Duo 2 with better cameras, 5G and more

iOS 15.1’s first beta suggests we could see SharePlay soon

New leakster Snoopy has posted a spec sheet for the Surface Go 3 LTE version

Earlier leaked have confirmed 3 versions of the tablet with different processors including the Intel Pentium Gold 6500Y and the Intel Core i3-10100Y, with different amounts of RAM and Storage.

The device is around the same size, but with a massive 13 hrs battery life, and support for WIFI 6. The design is identical.

The new spec sheets confirm detail such as that the Core i3 version will have 10 hours battery life, and that a model with LTE will be available.

In Thailand, the tablet starts at an equivalent of 380 euros, while the versions with 128 GB of storage listed for 520 and 575 euros respectively.

The devices are expected to appear at Microsoft’s upcoming Surface event on the 22nd of September, and according to Snoopy will hit shelves on the 5th of October.

Newly leaked Surface Go 3 specs confirm LTE version

VLC Media Player 3.4 is already available for Android. Existing users may have to wait a bit before it is pushed to their devices via Google Play. New users can go ahead and install the latest version from Google Play right away.

VLC Media Player 3.4 for Android

Users who install VLC Media Player 3.4 for the first time may decline the file permission request that the media player has when it is run for the first time. While that is not useful for the majority of users, as it will prevent the media player from playing any locally stored media, it may please users who just want to watch media streams.

The first experience workflow has been redesigned as well. It is cleaner now and includes more tips and guidance. Tips include using basic controls, such as double-tapping to pause, sliding on the right or left side up and down to increase/decrease the volume or brightness, or double-tapping in the left and right upper corners to go back or forward ten seconds.

VLC 3.4 for Android introduces a bookmarking system. Bookmarks are set in any media by selecting the three-dots menu and then the Bookmarks option. A tap on the plus icon adds a new bookmark at the current location. Bookmarks can be loaded then at any time to start playback from the previously saved position. The new feature is useful for audiobooks but also any other media that is lengthy or contains bookmark-worthy content.

The audio player that is integrated has a new design. According to VideoLAN, it puts content front and center. The redesign goes hand in hand with a new video list design that improves readability significantly.

Android Auto users benefit from a completely reworked navigation. VideoLAN believes that it makes things easier for users, as media is quicker to browse and to play in the new design. Other Android Auto specific improvements include abilities to search a media, play streams or playlists, display more media info, and performance improvements.

VLC Media Player 3.4 for Android is now available

Here's how the Gmail Android app works currently. You tap on the search bar, and type the keyword and the app displays the relevant results. It also highlights the words that you searched for. It's not bad per se, as it gets the job done. However, if you compare it with its web mail equivalent, yes it is too basic.

That is precisely what Google is aiming to change, by bringing the search filters from the web UI to the mobile app. When you perform a search inside the app, you will see a set of new options below the search bar. The screenshot shows 4 options: Sender, recipient, date, and attachment. If the web mail interface is anything to go by, the search filters in the mobile app should also have an unread mail button, and hopefully an advanced search option.

Image courtesy: Google

The announcement says that these search filters are rich drop-down lists, meaning once you tap them you will be able to access more options. E.g. You can enter the contact's name or email address, specify the timeframe to search in to filter the results. The app will also display a list of suggested senders, and offer a way to find mails from multiple senders.

So you can tap on an option to specify the sender, recipient, date, or the attachment button (to check if the mail has one), and the Gmail Android app will narrow down the results to find a match based on the criteria that you set.

Thankfully, this feature isn't exclusive to Business users or premium customers, all Gmail users will get the additional filters. Now, as to when the filters will be available, Google says it has already begun rolling out the feature to users, and that it will be available for all users by the end of October. The article on the Google's Workspaces blog indicates that the app will not have a setting to toggle the search filters, or customize them.

On a side note, Google has rolled out the Material You design for the Gmail app. It adds a Meet tab at the bottom of the app's interface, if you are not a fan of it, you may disable the bottom bar. To do so, access the Gmail app's menu and tap on the Settings button. Select the account settings that you would like to manage. Scroll down till you see the Meet section, and toggle the box next to "Show the Meet tab for video calling". The app's interface will flash briefly as it refreshes, and gets rid of the tab bar.

 

Gmail Android app gets improved search filters

Google has announced that their notifications will now work with focus mode, with important notifications coming though, but most other notifications being suppressed.

For example, if you’re navigating somewhere with Google Maps, the app will still let you know when you need to make a turn or if there are changes to your route — like road closures or unexpected traffic. Focus mode won’t silence these helpful, timely reminders.

Similarly, the Google Home app will let you know if there’s an unfamiliar face at your door. And if you set a reminder in Google Tasks that’s linked to a specific time, like “take the cupcakes out of the oven at 11:45,” Tasks will still notify you.

But notifications that aren’t as urgent or don’t require immediate action will go right to the Notifications Center, where you can check them whenever is most convenient for you.

The improvements will start rolling out in the coming weeks across Gmail, Meet, Tasks, Maps, Home and many other Google apps.

Bigger widgets for iPad

In the coming weeks, Google Photos and YouTube Music will roll out extra large versions of their popular widgets so you can easily access some of your best Memories and favorite music on your iPad Home Screen.

Easier access to Google on iOS

Starting today, if you search for your favourite song in Spotlight, you can start playing it directly in YouTube Music.

Of course, to access these new features you need to be running iOS 15, which should be rolling out to your handset today.

Google announce app updates to better support iOS 15

Apple will keep updating iOS 14, which means fewer downsides to waiting.

PSA: You don’t have to upgrade to iOS 15