Google's Quick Share rebrand also brings with it a new feature: the ability to select targets directly from the share sheet!
Full details in this article on Android Police.
Full details in this article on Android Police.
Android Police
Google's Quick Share update makes sharing files even easier than before
Google's Quick Share rollout wasn't the only big shakeup the company made to sharing files on Android today
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Mishaal's Android News Feed
Google has halted the rollout of the January 2024 GPSU following reports of devices having file access issues. Over the past few days, several users on Reddit, particularly those with Pixel phones, have faced issues with file access. The internal storage…
If you have a Pixel phone and have been unable to access your files after updating to the January 2024 Google Play System Update, Google has shared a fix.
1) Download and set up ADB on your PC (there are many tutorials online for this).
2) Connect your phone to your PC and run the following ADB commands:
3) Reboot your phone.
Google says that this issue is more prevalent in devices with multiple user accounts and/or work profiles and that they working on a fix for the root cause of this issue. Google's temporary solution today involves uninstalling updates to the Media and Medic Codecs Mainline modules.
Last week, I learned from a source that Google halted the January 2024 GPSU because they discovered that the DCLA Mainline module was inadvertently rolling back to the factory installed version for some users, causing mismatched dependency issues with other DCLA-enabled modules. It looks like both Media and Medic Codecs are DCLA-enabled modules, and this mismatch caused them to misbehave and resulted in the storage access-related issues that some users have been facing.
For a more detailed step-by-step guide, see Google's post on the Pixel community forums.
1) Download and set up ADB on your PC (there are many tutorials online for this).
2) Connect your phone to your PC and run the following ADB commands:
adb uninstall com.google.android.media.swcodecadb uninstall com.google.android.media3) Reboot your phone.
Google says that this issue is more prevalent in devices with multiple user accounts and/or work profiles and that they working on a fix for the root cause of this issue. Google's temporary solution today involves uninstalling updates to the Media and Medic Codecs Mainline modules.
Last week, I learned from a source that Google halted the January 2024 GPSU because they discovered that the DCLA Mainline module was inadvertently rolling back to the factory installed version for some users, causing mismatched dependency issues with other DCLA-enabled modules. It looks like both Media and Medic Codecs are DCLA-enabled modules, and this mismatch caused them to misbehave and resulted in the storage access-related issues that some users have been facing.
For a more detailed step-by-step guide, see Google's post on the Pixel community forums.
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I've been using Android's Circle to Search on the Galaxy S24 for over two weeks now, but I JUST learned that you can move the search bar and zoom in!
How did we all miss this? Video available in this Android Police article.
How did we all miss this? Video available in this Android Police article.
Android Police
Here’s a little known way to use Circle to Search
Google's Circle to Search feature on the Galaxy S24 and Pixel 8 series will get out of your way when you need it to
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The OnePlus 12 joins Google's Pixel lineup and Samsung's Galaxy S24 series in supporting Android 14's Ultra HDR format! This means HDR photos you capture from the OnePlus 12 can be shown properly on both SDR and HDR displays.
Full details on what this means are available over on Android Police.
Full details on what this means are available over on Android Police.
Android Police
The OnePlus 12's first update adds Ultra HDR support in Google Photos
Android 14's new Ultra HDR format seems to be catching on
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Wish more Android apps would go edge-to-edge, ie. take up 100% of your screen? Google has heard you, because they're working on adding a config in Android 15 that forces apps to go edge-to-edge by default!
Full details in this Android Authority article.
Full details in this Android Authority article.
Android Authority
Android 15 might force more apps to take up 100% of your screen
Android apps can go edge-to-edge to take up the entire screen, but many choose not to support this. Android 15 could force them to.
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When will Google launch its Find My Device network? We still don't know, but here's the latest update:
Background
Google said they won't roll their Find My Device network until Apple implements unwanted tracker alerts in iOS. Apple is waiting for the Detecting Unwanted Location Trackers (DULT) specification they jointly developed with Google and other industry vendors to be chartered by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
Google said they expected this specification to be finalized by the end of 2023, but it seems that timeline was a bit optimistic. In recent weeks, the DULT mailing list called for feedback from participants on whether they approved of the current draft being chartered.
Where we are today
Today (2/2/24), the call for feedback was closed by the IETF's Security Area Director, who said that these are the next steps:
1) The IESG will conduct an initial review of the charter at the next telechat (2/15/24).
2) The charter will be sent to the IETF community for review.
3) The IESG will conduct a final review on the charter at another telechat (2/29/24 or 3/7/24).
If all goes well, the earliest that the DULT specification can be chartered is by IETF 119, which starts on 3/16/24.
This means we'll have to wait until at least mid-March for DULT to be finalized, and then we'll have to wait for Apple to roll out unwanted tracker alerts based on this spec to iOS, and finally Google will roll out their Find My Device network.
(Getting industry consensus on such a sensitive issue takes time and there are a lot of things that need to be done, so this is no fault of the IETF. I'm just relaying the latest update on what's happening.)
Background
Google said they won't roll their Find My Device network until Apple implements unwanted tracker alerts in iOS. Apple is waiting for the Detecting Unwanted Location Trackers (DULT) specification they jointly developed with Google and other industry vendors to be chartered by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
Google said they expected this specification to be finalized by the end of 2023, but it seems that timeline was a bit optimistic. In recent weeks, the DULT mailing list called for feedback from participants on whether they approved of the current draft being chartered.
Where we are today
Today (2/2/24), the call for feedback was closed by the IETF's Security Area Director, who said that these are the next steps:
1) The IESG will conduct an initial review of the charter at the next telechat (2/15/24).
2) The charter will be sent to the IETF community for review.
3) The IESG will conduct a final review on the charter at another telechat (2/29/24 or 3/7/24).
If all goes well, the earliest that the DULT specification can be chartered is by IETF 119, which starts on 3/16/24.
This means we'll have to wait until at least mid-March for DULT to be finalized, and then we'll have to wait for Apple to roll out unwanted tracker alerts based on this spec to iOS, and finally Google will roll out their Find My Device network.
(Getting industry consensus on such a sensitive issue takes time and there are a lot of things that need to be done, so this is no fault of the IETF. I'm just relaying the latest update on what's happening.)
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Android 15 may introduce a new APEX (the package format used by many Project Mainline modules) module called CrashRecovery.
CrashRecovery is a new module that will contain all the APIs related to Android's Rescue Party feature, a feature introduced in Android 8.0 Oreo that helps users recover from reboot loops. Rescue Party detects when core system components (like the system_server process or a persistent system app) repeatedly crashes in a short period and takes different actions (like clearing all changes to Settings tables) to see if the device can be recovered. If not, then the user is prompted to factory reset their device.
I don't know if CrashRecovery will be updatable via Google Play System Updates or even really why this code is being migrated into its own APEX, but I'll keep an eye out on AOSP for more info.
CrashRecovery is a new module that will contain all the APIs related to Android's Rescue Party feature, a feature introduced in Android 8.0 Oreo that helps users recover from reboot loops. Rescue Party detects when core system components (like the system_server process or a persistent system app) repeatedly crashes in a short period and takes different actions (like clearing all changes to Settings tables) to see if the device can be recovered. If not, then the user is prompted to factory reset their device.
I don't know if CrashRecovery will be updatable via Google Play System Updates or even really why this code is being migrated into its own APEX, but I'll keep an eye out on AOSP for more info.
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OnePlus is rolling out an update to the OnePlus 11 and OnePlus 12 in China that adds several AI features, likely in a bid to compete with Samsung. According to the changelog:
"* Al Summariser is now available to help generate call summaries by extracting times, places, action items and other key information from your phone calls.
* AIGC Remover is now available to help you remove unwanted objects or people and make your photos look cleaner.
* Article summaries can now be generated with just one tap through key information extraction.
* Upgrades Breeno Touch, which can recognize onscreen content and provide quick access to relevant services."
The update for the OnePlus 11 brings the version to PHB110_14.0.0.403(CN01) and also adds a few other features, like a new "device motion & orientation" permission, the ability to use fingerprint unlock without waking up the screen, the ability to show the screen recording indicator in either a floating window or in the status bar, and the ability to control QQ Music on the AOD.
Credits to Reddit user milkyteapls for spotting the OP11 update!
"* Al Summariser is now available to help generate call summaries by extracting times, places, action items and other key information from your phone calls.
* AIGC Remover is now available to help you remove unwanted objects or people and make your photos look cleaner.
* Article summaries can now be generated with just one tap through key information extraction.
* Upgrades Breeno Touch, which can recognize onscreen content and provide quick access to relevant services."
The update for the OnePlus 11 brings the version to PHB110_14.0.0.403(CN01) and also adds a few other features, like a new "device motion & orientation" permission, the ability to use fingerprint unlock without waking up the screen, the ability to show the screen recording indicator in either a floating window or in the status bar, and the ability to control QQ Music on the AOD.
Credits to Reddit user milkyteapls for spotting the OP11 update!
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A Redditor leaked the Zenfone 11 Ultra over the weekend, and it looks like a rebadged ROG Phone 8. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing since I think the ROG Phone 8 felt good to use, but for those of you expecting a new compact entry in the Zenfone lineup, it's a shame.
This leak is also interesting in what it says about the "Zenfone is dead" rumors from last year. Those leaks were wrong in that the Zenfone 10 was the last Zenfone, but they may have had some inkling of truth in them if this is how the lineup is going to be moving forward (ie. a rebadged ROG Phone).
By the way, if you're wondering how this leak came about, ASUS did an oopsie. In their "AsusDemoUI" app, they embedded all these assets directly into the APK. Be careful what you ship in your builds!
This leak is also interesting in what it says about the "Zenfone is dead" rumors from last year. Those leaks were wrong in that the Zenfone 10 was the last Zenfone, but they may have had some inkling of truth in them if this is how the lineup is going to be moving forward (ie. a rebadged ROG Phone).
By the way, if you're wondering how this leak came about, ASUS did an oopsie. In their "AsusDemoUI" app, they embedded all these assets directly into the APK. Be careful what you ship in your builds!
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Google Play added an app archiving feature last year, but it only works within the Play Store and doesn't support manually archiving apps.
In Android 15, though, app archiving support could be baked into the OS.
Full details over on Android Authority.
In Android 15, though, app archiving support could be baked into the OS.
Full details over on Android Authority.
Android Authority
Android 15 could add built-in support for app archiving
Google Play has an app archiving feature that lets you uninstall apps without deleting their data, and it's coming natively to Android 15.
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Google announced today that they've provided a grant of $1,000,000 to the Rust Foundation to support efforts to improve interoperability between Rust and C++. They're also going to aggregate and publish audits for the Rust crates that they use in their open-source projects. The goal is to further reduce the barriers to adoption and thus accelerate the adoption of Rust.
Rust is a programming language that enforces memory safety and is already widely used in Android's codebase. The Rust tooling and ecosystem already support interoperability with C/C++ in the Android platform.
Rust is a programming language that enforces memory safety and is already widely used in Android's codebase. The Rust tooling and ecosystem already support interoperability with C/C++ in the Android platform.
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Here are some of the "Galaxy AI" features coming to older Galaxy devices, according to Samsung UK:
These include:
* Circle to Search
* Live Translate
* Note Assist
* Photo Assist
Live Translate brings real-time voice translations during phone calls. Note Assist consists of the automatic formatting and summarization features in the Samsung Notes app. Photo Assist consists of the Edit Suggestion and Generative Edit features in the Gallery app.
At Unpacked, Samsung said that some of its Galaxy AI features would be coming to the Galaxy S23 series, the Galaxy Z Fold 5, the Galaxy Z Flip 5, and the Galaxy Tab S9 series in H1 2024, and that these features are free until the end of 2025. They didn't say which feature would be coming, but Samsung's online comparison tool lists some of them.
Other AI features not mentioned are:
* Writing assist (Samsung Keyboard) which includes Chat translation, Writing style, and Spelling and Grammar
* Interpreter
* Trannoscript assist and Summaries (Samsung Voice Recorder)
* Summarize and Translate (Samsung Internet)
* Generative wallpaper
* Photo ambient wallpaper
* Instant Slow-Mo (Samsung Gallery)
We don't know if these features will also be available on older devices.
(Thanks to FragmentedChicken for the tip!)
These include:
* Circle to Search
* Live Translate
* Note Assist
* Photo Assist
Live Translate brings real-time voice translations during phone calls. Note Assist consists of the automatic formatting and summarization features in the Samsung Notes app. Photo Assist consists of the Edit Suggestion and Generative Edit features in the Gallery app.
At Unpacked, Samsung said that some of its Galaxy AI features would be coming to the Galaxy S23 series, the Galaxy Z Fold 5, the Galaxy Z Flip 5, and the Galaxy Tab S9 series in H1 2024, and that these features are free until the end of 2025. They didn't say which feature would be coming, but Samsung's online comparison tool lists some of them.
Other AI features not mentioned are:
* Writing assist (Samsung Keyboard) which includes Chat translation, Writing style, and Spelling and Grammar
* Interpreter
* Trannoscript assist and Summaries (Samsung Voice Recorder)
* Summarize and Translate (Samsung Internet)
* Generative wallpaper
* Photo ambient wallpaper
* Instant Slow-Mo (Samsung Gallery)
We don't know if these features will also be available on older devices.
(Thanks to FragmentedChicken for the tip!)
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The Android 14 update started rolling out for the OnePlus Open last week, so I was curious to see if OnePlus added support for the rear display and dual display APIs. Sadly, it looks like they haven't.
That doesn't detract from my opinion of the device (the Open is still my favorite phone right now), but it doesn't bode well for developer adoption of these APIs if they aren't supported by all the foldables. Not like foldables sell in large enough numbers yet for developers to take advantage of this, but still.
If you're curious about the rear display and dual display APIs I'm talking about, refer to this article I wrote a few months ago.
That doesn't detract from my opinion of the device (the Open is still my favorite phone right now), but it doesn't bode well for developer adoption of these APIs if they aren't supported by all the foldables. Not like foldables sell in large enough numbers yet for developers to take advantage of this, but still.
If you're curious about the rear display and dual display APIs I'm talking about, refer to this article I wrote a few months ago.
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Google has published the Android Security Bulletin (ASB) for February 2024, detailing the vulnerabilities addressed in the 2024-02-0X security patch level (SPL). Patches are available for Android versions 11-14.
This month, there's 1 RCE vulnerability in Android's Bluetooth stack with a severity rating of "critical". There are no security issues addressed by Google Play System Updates this month.
This month, there's 1 RCE vulnerability in Android's Bluetooth stack with a severity rating of "critical". There are no security issues addressed by Google Play System Updates this month.
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The Pixel Watch is finally getting a grid view app drawer as well as Material You dynamic theming support, and I've got an early look at both upcoming features over on Android Authority!
Android Authority
Here's an early look at multiple Wear OS design changes coming to Pixel Watch 2
Google is preparing several design changes to Wear OS 4 on the Pixel Watch that will make the experience more personal.
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OnePlus started rolling out the Android 14 update to the OnePlus Pad to U.S. users a couple of days ago, and I finally got it on my device!
The update has been rolling out in other regions for over a month, so I know this isn't new for everyone, but here's what the update adds:
Pantanal Service
* Adds Aqua Dynamics, a way of interaction with morphing forms that allows you to view up-to-date information at a glance.
Smart efficiency
* Adds Smart Cutout, a feature that can separate multiple subjects in a photo from the background for copying or sharing.
Cross-device connectivity
* Improves Shelf by adding more widget recommendations.
Security and privacy
* Improves photo and video-related permission management for safer access by apps.
Performance optimization
* Improves system stability, the launch speed of apps, and the smoothness of animations.
* Adds support for app-specific refresh rates to improve user experience.
Aquamorphic design
* Adds Aquamorphic-themed ringtones and revamps the system notification sounds.
---
The update brings the software to OxygenOS 14 (OPD2203_14.0.0.300). The kernel version is still 5.10.168-android12 due to GRF.
The OnePlus Pad, for its price, is a pretty solid media consumption/productivity tablet. However, the Android experience on tablets, even when paired with a keyboard + mouse + stylus, still unfortunately pales in comparison to a Windows/macOS/Linux laptop. Hopefully as the tablet experience improves, I can make a device like this my on-the-go daily driver as well.
The update has been rolling out in other regions for over a month, so I know this isn't new for everyone, but here's what the update adds:
Pantanal Service
* Adds Aqua Dynamics, a way of interaction with morphing forms that allows you to view up-to-date information at a glance.
Smart efficiency
* Adds Smart Cutout, a feature that can separate multiple subjects in a photo from the background for copying or sharing.
Cross-device connectivity
* Improves Shelf by adding more widget recommendations.
Security and privacy
* Improves photo and video-related permission management for safer access by apps.
Performance optimization
* Improves system stability, the launch speed of apps, and the smoothness of animations.
* Adds support for app-specific refresh rates to improve user experience.
Aquamorphic design
* Adds Aquamorphic-themed ringtones and revamps the system notification sounds.
---
The update brings the software to OxygenOS 14 (OPD2203_14.0.0.300). The kernel version is still 5.10.168-android12 due to GRF.
The OnePlus Pad, for its price, is a pretty solid media consumption/productivity tablet. However, the Android experience on tablets, even when paired with a keyboard + mouse + stylus, still unfortunately pales in comparison to a Windows/macOS/Linux laptop. Hopefully as the tablet experience improves, I can make a device like this my on-the-go daily driver as well.
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