If you want to try the new Gboard Smart Reply feature on the Pixel 8 Pro, you need to go to Settings > Developer Options > AiCore Settings and toggle "Enable Aicore Persistent".

Then, open a WhatsApp conversation to see LLM-powered Smart Reply suggestions in Gboard's suggestion strip.

These suggestions are powered by Google's Gemini Nano model, which is rolling out to Pixel 8 Pro devices via an update to the AICore app, so if you don't see the new Smart Reply behavior yet, you may need to wait for the model to be downloaded in the background.

Google says this feature is currently available as a limited preview for US English in WhatsApp but that support for more apps is coming next year.

The December 2023 Feature Drop update brings a much newer Arm Mali GPU kernel driver to Tensor Pixels, which users report significantly improves performance in games like Genshin Impact and Fortnite!

The GPU kernel driver has been upgraded from r38p1 released on August 18, 2022 to r44p1, which was released on October 11, 2023 (H/T @mile_freak07). (The GPU kernel driver version in the current Android 14 QPR2 beta is still r44p1.)

If you have a Tensor Pixel, try out some games/GPU benchmarks and see if the performance has improved significantly for you.

Alex Mullis noticed a major performance improvement in Genshin Impact a few weeks back after the game's version 4.2 update. The game ran quite poorly on the Pixel 8's Android 14 stable release, but ran much better on the QPR beta.

User TechDroider did a performance comparison between stable Android 14 and Android 14 QPR2 Beta 1 in Fortnite.

Google has corrected its chart to reflect which devices Repair Mode is available on.

The new chart shows that Repair Mode is indeed available on the Pixel 6a, but also the Pixel 5a as well. This means Repair Mode is available on all currently supported Pixel phones.

Also, the new chart shows that contextual replies in Call Screen is NOT available on the Pixel 5a or the Pixel Tablet. The Pixel Tablet doesn't even have telephony, so it didn't make sense for it to support that.

TechCrunch is reporting that it's likely Apple has cut off Beeper Mini's access to iMessage.

"However, Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky responded to TechCrunch’s inquiry about Beeper Mini’s status by pointing us to the X post acknowledging the outage, and providing more detail. Asked if possibly Apple found a way to cut off Beeper Mini’s ability to function, he replied, 'Yes, all data indicates that.'"

Beeper Mini is back for now. The app is being made free to use but currently phone number registration does not work.

Android 14 QPR2 (March) Beta 2 is out!

List of fixes:
• Fixed an issue where battery usage information that was reported in system settings was sometimes incorrect.
• Fixed an issue where the fingerprint icon on the lock screen would sometimes display before other information had loaded in always-on display mode.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused the biometric prompt to crash, causing it to be dismissed before a user could interact with it.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused the Internet Quick Settings tile to indicate that there was no Wi-Fi connection, even when the device was connected to a Wi-Fi network.

Known issues:
• Sometimes when a user unlocks the device using their fingerprint, there is no haptic feedback.
• For Pixel Fold devices, sometimes after a user unlocks the device while it's folded, the inner display doesn't turn on after unfolding the device.
• The Assistant At a Glance widget sometimes displays weather information for the wrong location.

Build number: AP11.231020.016 → AP11.231117.006
Security Patch: December 2023

🔗 Android Beta

• OTA images

• Factory Images

Google News | En

Sweet: Android may soon make it even easier to switch Bluetooth devices. Once this rolls out, you won't have to dive into the full Bluetooth settings page just to change the actively connected device anymore!

This has the potential to completely upend how Google licenses GMS and distributes Android, but we'll have to wait and see exactly what remedies the judge in this case decides to levy.

From The Verge: "Epic win: Jury decides Google has illegal monopoly in app store fight"

According to Sean Hollister, who has been directly reporting on the case for the last few weeks, the jury "unanimously answered yes to every question put before them". Wow. Google will no doubt appeal the ruling, but that's rough.

Ironically, if Android were a more closed ecosystem, Epic might not have won this case. But because Android is distributed the way it is, Google feels the need to maintain control through things like RSA, MADA, etc, which made them look really bad in this case.

But if they didn't do such things, how much more fragmented would Android be, and how much could Google justify to continue pouring money into developing Android the way it currently does?

What would an Android that's developed/run by a foundation look like? Would it be anywhere near as successful as what it is today? We could discuss this for hours.

But back to the case, I do think it's a bit silly that Google could've won if they were more restrictive in distributing Android at all from the getgo.

Google confirms they will challenge the verdict. Wilson White, Google VP, Government Affairs & Public Policy, speaking to The Verge:

We plan to challenge the verdict. Android and Google Play provide more choice and openness than any other major mobile platform. The trial made clear that we compete fiercely with Apple and its App Store, as well as app stores on Android devices and gaming consoles. We will continue to defend the Android business model and remain deeply committed to our users, partners, and the broader Android ecosystem.

Here are more hidden features in Android 14 QPR2 Beta 2!

- Notification cooldown
- Circle to search gesture
- New landscape notifications layout for phones
- Built-in app archiving support
- Terms of address
- Keyboard vibration toggle

You can find more details on these features, as well as see screenshots of some of them, in this Android Police article.

Android will finally let you save an App Pair so you can quickly relaunch two apps into split-screen mode.

I spotted this feature back in May but finally got it to work in Android 14 QPR2 Beta 2!

You can see screenshots and a video of this feature in action over on Android Police.

In Android 14 QPR2 Beta 1, I enabled a flag that let you remove the At a Glance widget entirely, but there was another interesting flag called SMARTSPACE_AS_A_WIDGET that didn't work at the time.

In Android 14 QPR2 Beta 2, I've enabled this flag, which lets you move the At a Glance widget around on screen and even rearrange it if you want!

Sadly, even with this flag enabled, you still cannot add the At a Glance widget to third-party launchers like Nova Launcher. This is because At a Glance isn't actually a widget under-the-hood, it's a "custom element behaving like a widget." (Thanks to Kieron Quinn for digging into this.)

If you're wondering whether the December 2023 stable update improved the quality of Android's USB webcam feature, it did not.

Here's a video comparing the quality when using my Pixel 8 Pro as a webcam via scrcpy's camera mirroring feature versus Android's USB webcam feature.

I tested the webcam feature last month using various Pixel phones on Android 14 QPR1 Beta 2, but now I've retested it on the stable Android 14 QPR1 release as several have requested. You can read more about my tests in the article I wrote last month for Android Central.

Google Keep is FINALLY adding support for Android 14's new note-taking feature!

As I previously revealed, Android 14 quietly added a lock screen shortcut that lets you quickly launch a notes app in a floating bubble.

You can read more about how this feature will work in this Android Authority article.

Thanks to Nail Sadykov for the tip!

After 1.5 years, Android's Photo Picker is finally preparing to get Google Photos integration! This will let the Photo Picker select photos and videos stored in the cloud.

You can learn more details and see screenshots of this feature from this article on Android Authority.

Gboard is finally starting to roll out stylus handwriting support — here's a first look on the Pixel Tablet!

This feature lets you write in text fields and use gestures to select, insert, delete, join words, or add a new line. You also get a floating toolbar for quick access to voice input, clipboard, emojis, translate, and settings.

Thanks to Bálint Béres for the tip about this feature rolling out and for sharing this video with me! (The stylus that they used is the Penoval USI 2.0 stylus.)

Note: This feature may not be immediately available for everyone. Another tipster with a Pixel Tablet and USI 2.0 stylus noticed today that when connecting their stylus, they got a "stylus handwriting model is downloading" message from Gboard, but handwriting still didn't work.

Update: It works now for them!