#GooglePlay #PlayStore #A12
'Play as you download' feature arriving to all Android 12 devices
All devices running Android 12 will soon be able to use 'Play as you download' feature.

This will allow users to download partial file resources of the game and start playing it without needing to download all the resource files which might take a long time depending on the Internet connection speed. While you are playing the game, Play Store will continue to download rest of the resources in the background. The feature is possible to achieve with the help of Android Incremental File System.

The feature is launching as beta, and will eventually start expanding and made available to all Android 12 devices. Game developers can sign up for the beta in order to make use of the feature.

Follow @PixelHubUpdates

#ChromeOS
Steam for Chorme OS will be available for selected Chromebooks
9To5Google

If you own a high-end Chromebook, you will soon be able to play noscripts available on Steam natively on Chrome OS.

In the 2022 Google for Games Developer Summit, the company has announced they are bringing Steam to Chrome OS. 9To5Google noted that the requirements are pretty high and most Chromebooks aren't eligible for it, which will require an (11th gen) Intel Core i5 or i7 processor and 7GB of RAM.

#GooglePlay
Google launched Play Partner Program for Games
Google Play

Google has launched Play Partner Program for Games, providing "additional growth tools and premier services" to big companies which have more than $5 million USD earning from consumer spend.

There are several benefits by joining in the program, including enhanced business support, faster releases and more insights. You also get enhanced pre-launch tools like pre-registration testing, access codes, and store listing experiments for pre-registration campaigns which you can distributed to players via social media or in-game event. There's many more than what is listed here.

Basically you get a lot of Google Play benefits by distributing games in the Play Store. Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, the requirements to join the program are high which only large companies will be able to achieve it.

Follow @PixelHubUpdates

#YouTube
YouTube mobile homepage is about to get worse with autoplay video controls
Android Police

As you scroll through the home page feed, you are treated with autoplay video if you didn't disable it manually in the settings. YouTube is planning to add controls for it when the video start to play automatically in the homepage.

As the video starts playing, the background will darken down to make the video stand out. You will be given option to toggle audio, captions, add it to your Watch Later playlist and skip to the next video. This is currently found to be a server side change.

*I don't think the homepage of the YouTube mobile app is getting better anytime soon, as YouTube continued to add more "bloat."

#Workspace #Docs #Gmail
Google Docs let you collaborate email draft much easier
Google Workspace Updates

Soon it will be much easier to collaborate writing email draft. and you can later send them directly in the same page too.

Simply type in "@" and choose Email draft option to start using the feature. You could also find it over at Insert > Building Blocks > Email draft. The template will load up To, Cc, Bcc, Subject lines and the compose box. You can type in the recipient name and Docs will automatically fill in the email address for you.

As the feature is integrated with Gmail, once you have finish composing, you can click on the Gmail icon on the left side and the compose window will appear and let you send them directly in one go. The feature should be available for all Workspace customers by mid-April.

#Apps #Home
Google Home gains redesigned device grid
Mishaal Rahman | 9To5Google

Android 11 introduced a device control page, which let you control your smart home devices easily, and the Google Home app itself is getting something similar to that.

Earlier you could have only turn on and off the device by tapping on the button, now you can also slide horizontally to adjust the brightness and volume. Long-pressing will also bring up full-page controls.

Android users can get the redesign by installing Google Home version 2.49.1.8 or later. Meanwhile the iOS app will be getting it “over the next few weeks.”

Download (2.49.1.8):
Play Store | APKMirror

#Pixel #Pixel7
Pixel 7 screen size shrink slightly while the Pro kept it
Ross Young

We have roughly know the screen size of the Pixel 7 & Pixel 7 Pro earlier along with some other specifications. and recently Ross Young came out to confirm the screen size for both models.

In his tweet, he said the Pixel 7 will come with 6.3 inch display, which is slightly smaller than its predecessor Pixel 6, which has a 6.4 inch display. Meanwhile Pixel 7 Pro will share the same screen size as Pixel 6 Pro, comes in 6.7 inch size.

The panel shipment is hinted to start around May, and he also confirmed the Pro variant will have a 120Hz LTPO display, which is identical to the Pixel 6 Pro too.

#GoogleIO
Google I/O 2022 Puzzle goes live
Google Developers | Puzzle

It's happening soon, Google has started to tease I/O by releasing a puzzle which will reveal the event's date.

There are four strings in total and each represent a Google color, with a control panel. Opening one particular string will let you add or remove circles.

*I am lazy to solve it when I managed to found the date earlier than anyone :)

#IO
Exclusive: Google I/O 2022 is held on May 11 & 12
Ok people, but I had manage to find out this data myself. The puzzle isn't completely solved yet, but if you are curious about the date, here it is.

The event seems to be a physical one this time, will be held at Shoreline. At the same time, Google will be streaming the event online too. The date for the event is May 11 & 12, which is only a two-days event instead of the usual three.

Follow @PixelHubUpdates

#GoogleIO
Confirmed! Google I/O 2022 event is back in May 11 & 12
Sundar Pichai | Google I/O 2022

CEO of Alphabet and Google, Sundar Pichai has tweeted about the 2022 Google I/O event, saying it will be held on May 11-12 in Shoreline Amphitheatre, which has confirmed the stuff we have posted here earlier.

#GooglePlay #PlayStore
Play Store will show applications that works well for large screen devices soon
Android Developers Blog

You might have probably know that not every app on the Play Store are optimised for large screen devices, and Google wanted to solve this issue by making some changes to the Play Store.

Play Store will surface applications by ranking, which will check for basic compatibility requirements like supporting portrait and landscape modes, keyboard and stylus integration. This will affect what users will see on the homepage and search result.

For applications that don't met the requirement, you will see an alert popup when installing it, and Google hope this change can "help set expectations for how apps will look and function post-install.” Lastly, the ratings and reviews of the app are split by device type, so if you are on a tablet, you will only see tablets' users rating, vice versa. This has been announced back in last August.

#News #A12L
Lenovo P12 Pro received Android 12L Beta 3 build
9To5Google

Android 12L stable build is already made available for Pixel devices, but the only tablet to get Android 12L build so far is Lenovo P12 Pro, which has received Beta 1 and Beta 2 build respectively at a later date, and now Beta 3 build has arrived for the tablet too.

The Android 12L Beta 3 build comes with February security patch and several improvements. You can download the build over at Lenovo developer website, and follow the instructions that are listed to flash it on the tablet.

For now, there isn't any announcement regarding the stable release of Android 12L for the tablet, but it should be coming anytime soon.

#Android
Upcoming Switch to Android iOS app could transfer your iCloud data to Google Photos
9To5Google

Last July, teardown of the Data Restore Tool application revealed Google is working on "Switch to Android" iOS app, which will make it much easier to transfer all your data from your iPhone to your new Android phone.

Recently, an update is being issued for the Data Restore Tool app to version 1.0.430697386, and 9To5Google has managed to discover new strings which hinted toward new features that are under development.

One of them being the ability to transfer images and videos from iCloud to Google Photos. There will be support page which will guide users on how to do it, and it could take up to a week to finish transferring all the media depend on how big the total media size is.

Besides, the application would allow users to copy data by using Lightning cable. There isn't much information being revealed about this part, so it isn't confirmed whether you could use this method to transfer your data.

#ChromeOS
ChromeOS is getting rebrand without the space
9To5Google

Chrome OS, the operating system which comes preinstalled with Chromebooks, is about to get a minor rebranding to "ChromeOS."

9To5Google spotted a code change which will change over 1,000 instance of "Chrome OS" to just "ChromeOS." This will change the branding text across Chromebook users over to internal developments. It's not just Chrome OS, the open source version of the same software, Chromium OS is also getting rebranded to "ChromiumOS" without the space in the middle too.

With that said, the changes has yet to be merge and there is no official announcement on the rebranding for now.

#Wallpapers #ChromeOS
Chromebooks will get new 'Radiance' wallpapers collection
Android Police

Google periodically released new wallpapers for Pixel devices, and they also did it for Chromebooks too but less frequently. Anyway, Google seems to be preparing a new wallpaper collection for it soon.

This wallpaper collection contained eight new wallpapers designed by Daniel Medina, with a mix of natural and artificial graphics included, which just looks stunning. All these wallpapers also come with light and dark variant.

It will be available on all Chromebooks in the coming months. If you want to get access to these new wallpapers early, you could find them in Google's wallpaper staging server via enabling chrome:flags#use-wallpaper-staging-url flag. If you want to use it on your other devices, you could download the wallpaper down below or over here.

#Wallpapers #ChromeOS
ChromeOS "Radiance" Wallpapers Collection
Related post: Chromebooks will get new 'Radiance' wallpapers collection

Follow @PixelHubUpdates

#Android #A13
Pixel Launcher can show Google Photos search result in Android 13
9to5Google

If you have used Pixel Launcher on Android 12, you might have noticed the new powerful search bar capability, which can search for settings, files on your phone, app shortcuts, etc. Recently, Google seems to be experimenting with showing Google Photos result in the launcher too.

So far, it can only showed up your device's Screenshots folder, other queries don't work for now. It's great that you could just search for something, Google Photos will then surface pictures that contained the things you searched for and you can open the pictures directly by tapping on the result. Also, you could just share pictures directly by long-pressing the pictures shown.

By the way, it could make its way to Android 12 in my opinion, since there isn't any major changes on Android 13, and it's also an A/B test, time will tell.

#News #Android #YouTube #PlayStore
Australian will be required to verify age with ID to use YouTube and Google Play on Android
Google Blog

Google Australia has announced that Android users will need to provide valid ID for age verification in order to continue using some of the services.

This part of the changes is due to the Australian Online Safety (Restricted Access Systems) Declaration, requiring platforms to take reasonable steps to check whether the users are older than 18 in order to access potentially inappropriate contents for users under the age of 18.

Not every content uploaded on YouTube and Play Store are suitable for kids to view, hence Google had to implement age-verification process for users in Australia.

When Google detected the user is accessing mature content and they can't verify the user's age, it will show a popup which will ask you to verify your age with your credit card or ID. All these information that are uploaded will be keep with Google's Privacy and Security Principles.

#Apps #Auto
Android Auto USB diagnostics tool could help you check your cable quality
Mishaal Rahman

USB cable quality decrease over time as you used, and Android Auto new USB diagnostics tool can help you find out whether the USB cable you are using have a good connection or not.

The tool is located at Android Auto Settings > Connection help. You can then use it to check whether the cable you're using is having any issues or not. In the support page, Google recommend to use 3 feet or shorter high-quality USB cable and don't use USB hubs or cable extensions.

The USB diagnostics tool is available directly with the Android Auto app version 7.5.121104.

Download (7.5.121104):
Play Store | APKMirror

#Pixel #PixelNotepad
Pixel Notepad production set to start around Q3 2022
TheGalox_ (Twitter)

Pixel Notepad is rumored to be the first Google's foldable, and apparently it might launched sometimes this year.

TheGalox_ mentioned that the production of the foldable is starting around Q3 2022. If that's the case, we could see Pixel Notepad launching at the same time as Pixel 7 soon. The tipster also said the foldable will be priced at $1399, which is same as what 9to5Google had told earlier.

If you're wondering how the Pixel Notepad looks like, it shared similar design with Oppo Find N. Specifications and camera setup of the foldable are also leaked earlier.

#News #StopRussianAggression
Google will match $5 million donation for Ukraine relief efforts
Google.org

Google themselves have already donate over total of $25 million to support people in the Ukraine to pass through the difficulties time, and now they hope to further aid relief efforts by opening up donation platform for people to donate.

There are three humanitarian organisations which are committed to collect donation from Google.org to fund Ukraine relief efforts, there are UNHCR, UNICEF, and World Food Programme. Google.org will be matching $5 million in donations through the end of April, and all of your donations will be directly send to these organisations.

Google is also starting to show banner in Gmail to encourage more people donate and support Ukraine relief efforts. On the Google homepage, it is also showing similar stuff under the search bar.

*If you have the abilities to do so, give some support to the people in need, good deeds will be rewarded :)