Mishaal's Android News Feed – Telegram
Mishaal's Android News Feed
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It's official: the Samsung Galaxy S25 series is launching on January 22!

If you reserve now using my link, you'll get $50 Samsung credit, 3X Samsung reward points in your pre-order purchase, and entry into a $5,000 sweepstakes.

All you need to do is enter your name and email address to reserve, and check the box to enter the sweepstakes.

(Disclaimer: I get a small commission if you use my affiliate link to reserve.)
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The OnePlus 13 is the first non-Pixel Android phone to support Android’s Powered Off Finding feature!

This feature lets you locate your OnePlus 13 via the Find My Device network even when it’s powered off or out of battery. This is thanks to specialized hardware within the device that keeps the Bluetooth controller running for hours after the OS has shut down.

The Pixel 8 series was the first to support this feature among Android phones. Despite messages in OxygenOS 15 suggesting otherwise, neither the OnePlus 12 nor the OnePlus Open support this feature as they don’t have the requisite hardware.

P.S. check out my OnePlus 13 review!
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Android 16 is adding a new Advanced Protection Mode API

Apps can check if you're enrolled in APM and then apply any extra security measures they deem necessary to safeguard your data.

This seems to be the Android native version of Google's Advanced Protection Program.

I first reported on Android 16's support for Advanced Protection Mode back in October, but it wasn't clear if the API would be open to 3P apps. However, these comments from some Googlers seem to confirm that'll be the case.
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Android is getting ready to support the new Eclipsa Audio format for 3D sounds

At CES 2025, Samsung announced that its 2025 TVs and soundbars will be able to playback YouTube videos that support the new Eclipsa Audio format.

Eclipsa Audio is based on the spatial audio format that Samsung, Google, Arm, and the Alliance for Open Media co-developed called Immersive Audio Model and Formats (IAMF). IAMF is being pushed as a royalty-free spatial audio format in contrast to Dolby Atmos.

On the Android side, the latest Media3 1.5.0 release includes the media3-decoder-iamf module that allows for playback of IAMF audio tracks in MP4 files. However, developers will need to build the libiamf decoder locally. The Android media framework is also getting ready to support IAMF decoders. So far an empty build rule and boilerplate code for the decoder have been added.

For context, check out this article from Engadget.
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Google TV devices on Android 14, Google Nest devices, Chromecast, and some LG TVs can now locally control your Matter-enabled smart home devices

Google said at CES 2025 that it had integrated the Home Runtime into these devices, enabling them to control Matter devices without an Internet connection. Viewing or controlling these devices will now be faster, more reliable, and more private.
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Mishaal's Android News Feed
Google TV devices on Android 14, Google Nest devices, Chromecast, and some LG TVs can now locally control your Matter-enabled smart home devices Google said at CES 2025 that it had integrated the Home Runtime into these devices, enabling them to control Matter…
While I'm on the subject of smart home control, I thought I'd mention that Android 16 is adding a new PackageManager API that lets apps determine whether an Android device has Thread network support.

FCC docs suggest the Pixel 9 series has a Thread radio, but it's currently not utilized. That could change this year, though.
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📱The OnePlus 13 gets Gemini Nano support in its first software update

The OnePlus 13 is not only the first OnePlus phone to support Gemini Nano, but it may also be the first non-Pixel to support the multimodal version of the model!

More details can be found in this article on Android Authority.
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🔊 Google may redesign the volume UI in Android 16, and here's a first look

The new design ditches the thick, pill-shaped sliders in favor of thinner, continuous sliders with handles.

You can see screenshots of the new volume UI by clicking on this link.
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🔙Android 16 may bring predictive back support to three-button navigation

Currently, predictive back only works with gesture navigation, but that's set to change in Android 16.

More details + a demo video can be found in this article on Android Authority.
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🚗 Android Automotive will be getting lots of new apps, starting next month

Google is finally launching the car ready mobile apps program that it announced back in May.

More details on this program can be found in this article.
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Vote which version of Android's volume panel you prefer.
Final Results
14%
I prefer Android 14's!
53%
I prefer Android 15's!
32%
I prefer Android 16's!
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Of these three volume panel designs, what do you think is the best?

Keep in mind the design that I put down for Android 16 isn't live yet and may not be the final design. Still, I know some of y'all have strong opinions on this, so vote in the poll.
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📱Android 16 could make multitasking better on phones with this split screen change

Google is preparing to add a 90:10 split ratio in Android 16, similar to how Open Canvas works in OxygenOS 15 on OnePlus phones.

Read this article for more details + a demo video.
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👀 Android 16 could borrow one of the best OxygenOS multitasking features for tablets

Google is working on three-way split-screen multitasking for tablets, possibly inspired by the Open Canvas feature of some OnePlus devices.

More details and a demo video can be found in this article.
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Oh, it seems this is now public. This 7-core variant of the Snapdragon 8 Elite is apparently intended for foldables (less heat generation), according to OEM sources.

In terms of performance, it gets 2% lower scores in AnTuTu and 7% less in Geekbench multi-core.
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