Google's Find My Device is starting to send out emails for whenever your device's location was accessed. Tapping the notification or the "learn more" link in the email opens this support page. This email also contains Find My Device's new logo. This 9to5Google article has a higher resolution image of the logo if you're interested.
(The "Find My Device located X device" notification I think isn't new, but I've never gotten an email before that my device was located via FMD so I think that's new here.)
Screenshot credits: @nailsad_eleos
(The "Find My Device located X device" notification I think isn't new, but I've never gotten an email before that my device was located via FMD so I think that's new here.)
Screenshot credits: @nailsad_eleos
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You can't use the Pixel Tablet's dock speakers when you have a USB cable connected as pointed out by Al Sutton on Mastodon.
I think the reason is Android sees the dock as a USB audio dock and can't handle routing audio over USB and data over the actual USB port simultaneously.
I think the reason is Android sees the dock as a USB audio dock and can't handle routing audio over USB and data over the actual USB port simultaneously.
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Here are some screenshots of the settings page for Android's soon-to-be-released unknown tracker alerts feature, which alerts you of potentially unwanted tracker tags near you.
You can read more about this upcoming feature in Google's blog post.
Screenshots: @AssembleDebug
You can read more about this upcoming feature in Google's blog post.
Screenshots: @AssembleDebug
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Android's virtualization framework now also supports MediaTek's GenieZone hypervisor. The kernel patches have not yet been merged, though.
AVF launched with initial support for KVM, which only Tensor Pixels exposed on Android 13. In late April, AVF added support for Qualcomm's Gunyah hypervisor.
Future Android (15) devices with Qualcomm and MediaTek chipsets launching with the android14-6.1 GKI kernel should thus support AVF.
AVF is still limited to system apps, though, so don't expect to be booting Android in VMs yourself anytime soon (unless you root your device).
AVF launched with initial support for KVM, which only Tensor Pixels exposed on Android 13. In late April, AVF added support for Qualcomm's Gunyah hypervisor.
Future Android (15) devices with Qualcomm and MediaTek chipsets launching with the android14-6.1 GKI kernel should thus support AVF.
AVF is still limited to system apps, though, so don't expect to be booting Android in VMs yourself anytime soon (unless you root your device).
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Android is dropping support for flattened APEXes, a legacy format of APEX (the file format used for most Project Mainline modules) that can't be updated outside of regular OTAs.
This is only relevant if you maintain a device with a pre-Linux 4.9 kernel that doesn't support the Linux kernel's loop driver. Flattened APEXes don't have a file system image to mount, which is what makes them support these legacy devices but also what makes them non-updatable.
H/T @SebaUbuntu
This is only relevant if you maintain a device with a pre-Linux 4.9 kernel that doesn't support the Linux kernel's loop driver. Flattened APEXes don't have a file system image to mount, which is what makes them support these legacy devices but also what makes them non-updatable.
H/T @SebaUbuntu
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Mishaal's Android News Feed
Several users are reporting that the "ring & notification volume" sliders have been suddenly split into "ring volume" and "notification volume" in Android 14 DP2. This is WITHOUT them flipping any flags, which was previously required to enable separate ring/notification…
With the release of Android 13 QPR3 earlier this month, the code implementing the DeviceConfig toggle for separating the notification and ringtone volumes has been readded to AOSP.
If you have a custom ROM, you can enable this feature by overriding the flag, but note that you will need to also override config_deviceConfiguratorPackageName as otherwise GMS may reset any flag changes.
See these links for an example implementation by the OmniROM team: [1] [2] [3]
If you have a custom ROM, you can enable this feature by overriding the flag, but note that you will need to also override config_deviceConfiguratorPackageName as otherwise GMS may reset any flag changes.
See these links for an example implementation by the OmniROM team: [1] [2] [3]
GitHub
GitHub - omnirom/android_packages_apps_SimpleDeviceConfig
Contribute to omnirom/android_packages_apps_SimpleDeviceConfig development by creating an account on GitHub.
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The android14-6.1 ACK branch has enabled support for the NVMe driver (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NVME=y). This is the GKI release that'll ship on next-gen flagships powered by Qualcomm (and likely) MediaTek chipsets.
The patch was submitted by a Qualcomm engineer and I suspect is intended for automotive (AAOS) devices, as the rise of "self-driving" capabilities necessitates increased storage capacity and performance.
H/T Luca Stefani
The patch was submitted by a Qualcomm engineer and I suspect is intended for automotive (AAOS) devices, as the rise of "self-driving" capabilities necessitates increased storage capacity and performance.
H/T Luca Stefani
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Google has reportedly ended its plans to release "Iris", its next-gen AR glasses, according to Business Insider. Instead, they're pivoting to building an Android XR platform for Samsung's headset as well as a "micro XR" platform for glasses.
Android already powers a lot of XR experiences. Meta uses AOSP for the Quest. Xreal (formerly Nreal) rely on Android phones, etc.
And Google announced a partnership with Samsung earlier this year to build an Android XR platform that'll need a lot of resources to succeed.
Android already powers a lot of XR experiences. Meta uses AOSP for the Quest. Xreal (formerly Nreal) rely on Android phones, etc.
And Google announced a partnership with Samsung earlier this year to build an Android XR platform that'll need a lot of resources to succeed.
Business Insider
Google killed its Iris augmented-reality smart glasses as it shifts attention to building AR software
Google shelved plans for a pair of AR smartglasses and is instead focusing on building a software platform to court headset makers like Samsung.
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You can now use Nearby Share to send text/files to your devices even when they're sleeping! You no longer have to turn on your device's screen and unlock it just to share something.
More details (and a demo) here.
More details (and a demo) here.
Android Authority
PSA: Google's Nearby Share can send files to your sleeping devices
In case you missed it, Nearby Share, the Android equivalent of AirDrop, can send files to your devices even when their screens are off.
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Here's a look at a potential new feature in Android 14: a toggle to change back to the old "persistent" taskbar style from Android 12L. The Pixel Tablet and Pixel Fold use Android's new "transient" taskbar which doesn't stay on screen for long.
Read more here.
Read more here.
Android Police
Android 14 may let you bring back the old taskbar on the Pixel Tablet and Pixel Fold
With Android 14 nearing the end of development, we could still be getting one big upgrade to how the taskbar operates
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Twitter on the Pixel Tablet before and after letterboxing tweaks.
- Made the app window slightly bigger (but unable to make it fully stretch)
- Changed the background to the wallpaper with a slight blur
I don't have a Pixel Tablet so thanks to Kartheek Alladi for testing😁
Before you ask, "how?" You should know that Android really doesn't seem to like you messing with an app's aspect ratio. If you do, you may get this cursed recents overview transition.
...but if you want to try anyway (to see if you can get better results), you'll need these ADB shell commands:
To output the default letterbox config:
To change the letterbox config:
Type
- Made the app window slightly bigger (but unable to make it fully stretch)
- Changed the background to the wallpaper with a slight blur
I don't have a Pixel Tablet so thanks to Kartheek Alladi for testing😁
Before you ask, "how?" You should know that Android really doesn't seem to like you messing with an app's aspect ratio. If you do, you may get this cursed recents overview transition.
...but if you want to try anyway (to see if you can get better results), you'll need these ADB shell commands:
To output the default letterbox config:
wm get-letterbox-styleTo change the letterbox config:
wm set-letterbox-style <ARG> <VALUE>Type
wm for the help text.👍23😨3🥰2
The DirtyPipe vulnerability (CVE-2022-0847) is apparently under active exploitation according to Google (H/T @flawedworlddev).
This vulnerability was addressed in the May 2022 bulletin, though, so if your device reports a security patch level of 2022-05-05 or newer it should already be protected against it.
This vulnerability was addressed in the May 2022 bulletin, though, so if your device reports a security patch level of 2022-05-05 or newer it should already be protected against it.
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Mishaal's Android News Feed
You can now use Nearby Share to send text/files to your devices even when they're sleeping! You no longer have to turn on your device's screen and unlock it just to share something. More details (and a demo) here.
Bumping this because I just learned that this change, in fact, was announced by Google last September (H/T aniruddhdodiya on Twitter).
I somehow missed/forgot this was announced, as did many others. Still, I messed up, so I've updated the article to reflect that.
I somehow missed/forgot this was announced, as did many others. Still, I messed up, so I've updated the article to reflect that.
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I was asked why the Pixel Fold doesn't have Android's one-handed mode feature, which also lets you swipe down on any screen to pull down the notifications.
The reason is that Google intends for this feature to only be available on small screen devices.
You can see here that the system property
Given that the Fold has a relatively normal sized outer display where OHM might still be useful, I think it should just be left up to the user whether they want to use it.
But what do you think? Would you use OHM/swipe down for notifications on your Pixel Fold?
(Yes, I know you can still swipe down while on the Pixel Launcher home screen to pull down the notifications, but the OHM version of the feature lets you do that on almost any screen.)
The reason is that Google intends for this feature to only be available on small screen devices.
You can see here that the system property
ro.support_one_handed_mode is set to false in device-felix.mk. This controls whether the OHM settings page is available.Given that the Fold has a relatively normal sized outer display where OHM might still be useful, I think it should just be left up to the user whether they want to use it.
But what do you think? Would you use OHM/swipe down for notifications on your Pixel Fold?
(Yes, I know you can still swipe down while on the Pixel Launcher home screen to pull down the notifications, but the OHM version of the feature lets you do that on almost any screen.)
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After deprecating Android Beam in Android 10, Google has now fully removed the NFC P2P communication code it relies on.
(As I reported back in 2019, Google ceased development of Android Beam but left it available for device makers who wanted to use it. Now it'll just be gone from the platform entirely. Of course, this isn't a big deal since we have Nearby Share now, though that's only available on GMS Android devices and not AOSP like Android Beam was.)
Back in September, developer Luca Stefani pointed me to a series of patches cleaning up what remains of Android Beam in the platform. Nearly 10 months later, these code changes have been merged. The code for NFC P2P communication has been removed from AOSP.
Though given that Apple has announced NameDrop, which is a (very beautifully designed) version of Android Beam for iOS, I wonder if Google will change their minds and bring back Android Beam.
In Android 15, Google may make the NFC stack into a new Project Mainline module, so I think if that module's enforced, they could do it.
(As I reported back in 2019, Google ceased development of Android Beam but left it available for device makers who wanted to use it. Now it'll just be gone from the platform entirely. Of course, this isn't a big deal since we have Nearby Share now, though that's only available on GMS Android devices and not AOSP like Android Beam was.)
Back in September, developer Luca Stefani pointed me to a series of patches cleaning up what remains of Android Beam in the platform. Nearly 10 months later, these code changes have been merged. The code for NFC P2P communication has been removed from AOSP.
Though given that Apple has announced NameDrop, which is a (very beautifully designed) version of Android Beam for iOS, I wonder if Google will change their minds and bring back Android Beam.
In Android 15, Google may make the NFC stack into a new Project Mainline module, so I think if that module's enforced, they could do it.
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