#Android #Highlights
New Android features March 2022 Highlights
• Google TV app to get Material You redesign, adding 'Highlights' tab for entertainment news
• Google Photos bring Portrait Blur to all photos with more improvements
• Google Messages rolling out iMessage reactions, birthday reminders and more
• Live Transcribe can now works without an Internet connection
• Google Assistant can pay for your parking fee
• Nearby Share can share files with multiple devices at once
• Digital Wellbeing can show your screen time on your home screen
• Gboard's grammar correction and more Emoji Kitchen mashup rolling out to all Android devices

Source:
Google Blog

Follow @PixelHubUpdates

#News #Pixel
Google resolved Widevine bug for some Pixel devices with Android 12L update
Android Police

Google has rolled out Android 12L to supported Pixel devices update a few days ago, bringing in a lot of improvements. For some weird reasons, several Pixel owners faced a Widevine bug issue nearly a year and after updating to Android 12L, many reported that it resolved the issue.

Widevine is a DRM solution developed by Google, used by media streaming apps to ensure secure video playback, and is separated into L1, L2, L3 three levels. L1 is the highest level and come with all Pixel devices by default, support streaming HD content, whereas L3 only allow you to stream SD content.

A lot of people that are affected got the level L3, which means losing the access to play HD content in Netflix for example. Earlier some people said after updating to Android 12L beta, it fixed the Widevine issue.

Now Android 12L stable update is released, more and more people are confirming the issue is gone for them., some said they had to factory reset in order to fix it permanently. Anyway it's nice to know that the issue is no longer there for most users at least.

#News #Android #StopRussianAggression
Google planning to bring Air Raid Alerts to all Android phones via Play Services update
XDA Developers

As the invasion of Ukraine continued, in order to protect citizens in Ukraine, Google is rolling out Air Raid Alerts system to all Android devices in Ukraine.

In Google Play Services v22.06.15, there is strings which indicated how the features work:
"This feature uses only your device’s approximate location to send notifications about potential air raids. Google does not use this location information to track or identify you."

That mean the Air Raid Alerts system will be activated and alerting you about air raid if you're somewhere in Ukraine, without needing an additional application.

Here's how the air raid notifications will look like:
• The Government of Ukraine issued an alert for %s at %s. Take shelter immediately.Tap to change settings.
• The Government of Ukraine canceled the alert for %s at %s. Tap to change settings.

As mentioned earlier, Google is starting to roll out the feature, hopefully people in the Ukraine can stay safe and protect themselves from these alerts.

#Android #A12L
Android 12L let you use scrolling screenshot for Webviews
XDA Developers

Android 12 introduced scrolling screenshot, allowing users to capture more of their screen in one shot. With Android 12L rolling out to more Pixel devices, a lot of stuff have been improved including scrolling screenshot too.

Previously it is not possible to use the feature in Webviews, but with Android 12L, Google managed to fix the issue. When opening webpage in a Webview and took a screenshot, you will see the "capture more" button appeared at the bottom which let you take a scrolling screenshot. Webview basically means an embedded browser which can load web pages in applications.

This feature is already first spotted (code review) by Mishaal Rahman and now widely available with the Android 12L update.

#GooglePlay #PlayStore
You can use Play Points balance to pay for apps, games and more
9To5Google

Earlier if you had wanted to cash in with your Play Points balance, you need to redeem a voucher or coupon first and later use it, but with an update, Google now let you to use Play Points balance directly when purchasing.

When going through the usual purchase screen, you will see a new section prompting you to "Use points." Tapping on it show you several options, one can save you $1 with 100 points, or you can just choose to spend points to pay for the purchase.

By the way, you can earn more points when spending in the Play Store depending on your level, varying from 1 to 1.4 point per every $1 spent.

#PlayStore
Play Store rewrote on Jetpack Compose, used up to 50% less code and gain faster rendering speed
Android Developers Blog

Play Store is about to get much more snappier than ever before. The code used for Play Store till today has been more than 10 years old and "had incurred tremendous tech debt" over the years, so the team is planning to rebuild it with a new framework, Jetpack Compose.

Regarding developer productivity, “hundreds of engineers” working on the app, and they found it "requires much less code, sometimes up to 50%" with declarative UI framework. They used the Ratings table as an example, saying it only just used 210 lines of Kotlin instead of 350 lines Java and 55 lines XML. They also mentioned animations are much easier to add too.

In performance, they said Play Store loads search page results with 40% less rendering time, with the help of baseline profiles. They also managed to "built a Modifier to easily spot these recompositions" in their debug settings, and saw jank reduced by 10~15%.

The team said it's "a big step-up for code quality and health," hopefully they can rollout the all new improved Play Store soon which should make the experience much better to use,

#News
YouTube Vanced is discontinued due to Google
YouTube Vanced

This commonly used YouTube client mod is known for their AMOLED black theme or SponsorBlock integration was discontinued yesterday. The creators of it say it's because of a Cease and Desist letter from Google outside of their control.

The download links will be available for a day until they will be taken down. The client will still work for a while so you do not have to worry about that.

As an alternative we recommend you to try out NewPipe, an OSS client of YouTube and other platforms.

Farewell Vanced, we hope for a similar alternative in the future and wish the best for its creators.

Follow @PixelHubUpdates

#News #Pixel #Pay
Several Google Pixel devices on March update couldn't make contactless payment
9To5Google

UPDATE: Google has already fixed the issue.

Android 12L March Feature Drop has been released one week ago, but apparently it caused some owners not being able to make contactless transactions with Google Pay.

Google Pay will show "Your phone doesn't meet software standards" popup, which is something usually happens when your phone has been modified in some ways and resulting in SafetyNet check failed. Apparently all these reports are coming from owners that have updated to the March update and have not modified their devices in any way, but still end up getting the error message.

If you are one of the guy that faced it, it's better that you waited for Google to issue a fix instead of opting to the Android 12QPR3 beta program.

#YouTube
You can view video trannoscription in the YouTube mobile app soon
Android Police

Video trannoscription can be helpful when you want to search back for a specific part of a video. For a long time, YouTube has only make the feature available on the desktop web experience, but it's hitting the mobile app experience soon.

Once the feature is available for you, you will be able to see a new Trannoscript section with a "Show Trannoscript" button, tapping on it will display the video's trannoscription. One drawback though, you couldn't search for it directly which might be a little annoying especially if the video duration is long.

For now, the trannoscription feature is rolling out via server side to a few devices randomly.