Really impressed by how Microsoft has taken tools that were super basic and often mocked - Paint, Snipping Tool, Photos - and improved upon them with useful AI features.
* Microsoft announced last week that Paint is rolling out background removal support to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev channels.
* Today, Microsoft announced the Photos app will get background blur, content search for OneDrive-backed photos, location search, support for viewing motion photos captured by Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones, and other improvements.
* Also today, Microsoft announced that Snipping Tool can now detect text in captured screenshots (OCR, finally!) I've been using Google Lens on my phone for this for so long. You can also use Quick Redact to automatically hide emails and phone numbers.
* Phone Link is getting updated with a new remote capture feature. Whenever a new photo is captured on your linked Android device, that photo can immediately be accessed and edited on your PC through Snipping Tool.
* Microsoft announced last week that Paint is rolling out background removal support to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev channels.
* Today, Microsoft announced the Photos app will get background blur, content search for OneDrive-backed photos, location search, support for viewing motion photos captured by Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones, and other improvements.
* Also today, Microsoft announced that Snipping Tool can now detect text in captured screenshots (OCR, finally!) I've been using Google Lens on my phone for this for so long. You can also use Quick Redact to automatically hide emails and phone numbers.
* Phone Link is getting updated with a new remote capture feature. Whenever a new photo is captured on your linked Android device, that photo can immediately be accessed and edited on your PC through Snipping Tool.
👍36😱22❤8🤔5🔥4🤯2
Through the new FlaggedApi annotation, Android 15 will make certain APIs public or hidden based on the value of an "aconfig" flag at build time.
Google will use this annotation to hide APIs under development while preparing the release of Android 15.
For example, the battery state of health API that I said would become public in Android 15 the other day will be guarded by the new "state_of_health_public" flag under the "os" namespace.
aconfig, as I mentioned before, is a new way to define feature flags at build time. It's similar to the DeviceConfig API, which lets Play Services remotely toggle flags, but aconfig also allows configuring flag values based on the build ID as well as setting certain flags to be read-only.
And now, it seems Google's going to use aconfig to gate the availability of new APIs as well while they're under development.
Google will use this annotation to hide APIs under development while preparing the release of Android 15.
For example, the battery state of health API that I said would become public in Android 15 the other day will be guarded by the new "state_of_health_public" flag under the "os" namespace.
aconfig, as I mentioned before, is a new way to define feature flags at build time. It's similar to the DeviceConfig API, which lets Play Services remotely toggle flags, but aconfig also allows configuring flag values based on the build ID as well as setting certain flags to be read-only.
And now, it seems Google's going to use aconfig to gate the availability of new APIs as well while they're under development.
👍25🤔6
Google may have quietly walked back Android 14's work profile changes.
Back in July, I reported that Android 14 tweaked the behavior of the work profile so that when you press "pause", the OS actually pauses the profile instead of turning it off.
Google told me they made this change for 2 reasons:
1) Your notifications will be ready for you to view when you unpause the work profile (rather than getting a flood of notifications as apps sync).
2) It's easier to stay compliant with a company's update policy as apps can continue to get updates when the work profile is paused (they couldn't under the previous behavior as the work profile was off).
The change seemed like a win for users and enterprises, but some users were concerned about the potential battery implications. (Google told me that although the work profile technically continues running in the background, apps are suspended using the same method that Digital Wellbeing uses.)
Also, some users were concerned that work profile apps would continue seeing them as online. (Google told me that the burden lies with individual app developers in determining a user's online status through the
I don't know why, but it seems Google may have quietly reverted Android 14's work profile pausing behavior. Android Enterprise expert Jason Bayton discovered that "pausing" the work profile on his Pixel 6 Pro running Android 14 Beta 5.3 actually shuts it down, which is the behavior seen in Android 13 and earlier. Another work profile user, Tim Cappalli, also noticed the same on their Pixel 7 Pro running Android 14 Beta 5.3.
(1/2)
Back in July, I reported that Android 14 tweaked the behavior of the work profile so that when you press "pause", the OS actually pauses the profile instead of turning it off.
Google told me they made this change for 2 reasons:
1) Your notifications will be ready for you to view when you unpause the work profile (rather than getting a flood of notifications as apps sync).
2) It's easier to stay compliant with a company's update policy as apps can continue to get updates when the work profile is paused (they couldn't under the previous behavior as the work profile was off).
The change seemed like a win for users and enterprises, but some users were concerned about the potential battery implications. (Google told me that although the work profile technically continues running in the background, apps are suspended using the same method that Digital Wellbeing uses.)
Also, some users were concerned that work profile apps would continue seeing them as online. (Google told me that the burden lies with individual app developers in determining a user's online status through the
PM.isPackageSuspended() API or the ACTION_MY_PACKAGE_SUSPENDED broadcast.)I don't know why, but it seems Google may have quietly reverted Android 14's work profile pausing behavior. Android Enterprise expert Jason Bayton discovered that "pausing" the work profile on his Pixel 6 Pro running Android 14 Beta 5.3 actually shuts it down, which is the behavior seen in Android 13 and earlier. Another work profile user, Tim Cappalli, also noticed the same on their Pixel 7 Pro running Android 14 Beta 5.3.
(1/2)
🤔19👍10🤡10
Mishaal's Android News Feed
Google may have quietly walked back Android 14's work profile changes. Back in July, I reported that Android 14 tweaked the behavior of the work profile so that when you press "pause", the OS actually pauses the profile instead of turning it off. Google…
Oddly, though, I was not able to replicate this on my Pixel 6a or Pixel 6 Pro running Beta 5.3, and even stranger was that Jason was also unable to replicate this on his Pixel 7a running Beta 5.3!
I don't know why there's a discrepancy between our devices, but there's some more evidence the work profile behavior may have been reverted. Google quietly scrubbed their page for what's new in enterprise in Android 14 to remove references to the work profile change.
I reached out to Google for comment last week, but I didn't hear back from them. If you have a Pixel running Android 14 Beta 5.3 and you use a work profile, let me know if you see the new or old pausing behavior!
The best way to check is through ADB (so your policy may not let you):
(2/2)
I don't know why there's a discrepancy between our devices, but there's some more evidence the work profile behavior may have been reverted. Google quietly scrubbed their page for what's new in enterprise in Android 14 to remove references to the work profile change.
I reached out to Google for comment last week, but I didn't hear back from them. If you have a Pixel running Android 14 Beta 5.3 and you use a work profile, let me know if you see the new or old pausing behavior!
The best way to check is through ADB (so your policy may not let you):
dumpsys user | grep -A 3 "Work profile"
If you see State: SHUTDOWN or State: -1 when the work profile is paused, then it's the old behavior. If you see State: RUNNING_UNLOCKED, then it's the new behavior.(2/2)
👍36😱4👎2
Google Play seems to be rolling out an "automatically archive apps" toggle for more people. This feature, when enabled, will free up space when your storage runs low by automatically archiving apps you rarely use.
Previously, to opt into app archiving, you had to attempt to install an app when your phone was out of storage. Now, you can go to Play Store settings > General to opt in.
For more info on app archiving and auto-archiving on Google Play, refer to this post.
H/T Anh on my Discord
Previously, to opt into app archiving, you had to attempt to install an app when your phone was out of storage. Now, you can go to Play Store settings > General to opt in.
For more info on app archiving and auto-archiving on Google Play, refer to this post.
H/T Anh on my Discord
❤25👍22
Mishaal's Android News Feed
Google has deleted all code related to Fast Pair from AOSP. Fast Pair is Google's proprietary standard for simplifying the first time discovery and pairing of nearby devices over Bluetooth Low Energy. It's available on most Android devices through the Google…
So, as I suspected, Fast Pair code was deleted from AOSP because it wasn't being used by anyone.
And because it wasn't being used, it was just taking up space unnecessarily. Although HalfSheetUX was only a few megabytes in size, Mainline modules are served to many millions of people, a decent portion of whom are on metered connections.
Note: This has no implications for the Fast Pair feature you're already familiar with. Fast Pair started out as a feature bundled in Play Services and will remain that way for the foreseeable future. This news just means there's no longer an open source version of Fast Pair.
And because it wasn't being used, it was just taking up space unnecessarily. Although HalfSheetUX was only a few megabytes in size, Mainline modules are served to many millions of people, a decent portion of whom are on metered connections.
Note: This has no implications for the Fast Pair feature you're already familiar with. Fast Pair started out as a feature bundled in Play Services and will remain that way for the foreseeable future. This news just means there's no longer an open source version of Fast Pair.
😢45👍8❤4👎4🤔1
The Android 14 beta hints that "virtual" DSDA might be coming to select Pixel phones, which could let you make a phone call on one SIM while simultaneously using mobile data from another!
Full details exclusive to Patreon/X subscribers.
Full details exclusive to Patreon/X subscribers.
👍47🤡16🔥5❤3🤯1
Sources: To improve security, Google's making it (slightly) harder to contribute code to Android
To improve AOSP's supply chain security, all external code contributions will soon need approval from at least two Google reviewers.
Full details available here (no paywall).
To improve AOSP's supply chain security, all external code contributions will soon need approval from at least two Google reviewers.
Full details available here (no paywall).
🤡50👍28🤔4❤1
While we're waiting for the stable release of Android 14 and Android 14 QPR1 Beta 1, Google has just released a new Android 13 (QPR3)-based build for Pixel phones that has the September 2023 security patches!
Build ID: TQ3A.230901.001
Announcement on the Pixel community forum | Pixel Update Bulletin - September 2023
CVE-2023-4211 is a high severity vulnerability that impacts the Mali GPU driver and "may be under limited, targeted exploitation"
Build ID: TQ3A.230901.001
Announcement on the Pixel community forum | Pixel Update Bulletin - September 2023
CVE-2023-4211 is a high severity vulnerability that impacts the Mali GPU driver and "may be under limited, targeted exploitation"
👍38🥱15🤔6🍾6😢4🤡1
Xiaomi's upcoming Watch 2 Pro will be their first smartwatch with Wear OS to have access to Google Play! It's launching next week, Sept. 26, in Berlin alongside the Xiaomi 13T series.
Rumors suggest it'll have the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 SoC. The OS will have MIUI branding, but I'm not sure if it'll launch with Android 11-based Wear OS 3 or Android 13-based Wear OS 4.
The Xiaomi Mi Watch was technically Xiaomi's first smartwatch to run Wear OS, but it was only available in China and also didn't have access to Google Play.
Thanks to dvrkplayer for pointing this out!
Rumors suggest it'll have the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 SoC. The OS will have MIUI branding, but I'm not sure if it'll launch with Android 11-based Wear OS 3 or Android 13-based Wear OS 4.
The Xiaomi Mi Watch was technically Xiaomi's first smartwatch to run Wear OS, but it was only available in China and also didn't have access to Google Play.
Thanks to dvrkplayer for pointing this out!
👍34🤮11👀5❤4😱2🤡2😁1
Amlogic's new chip for TVs has been announced. The S905X5 SoC is fabricated on a 6nm process node and it incorporates a "new-gen CPU", support for a "4K HDR UI" with the ARM Mali-G310 GPU, Dolby Atmos support, and more.
One source tells me this chip is already sampling and that it'll be available for mass production towards the end of Q2 2024. Another source says it'll be ready in Q1 2024, though.
H/T AndroidTV_Rumor on Twitter
—-
The upgrade I'm most looking forward to is the new display processor that's capable of driving a 4K UI. Android TV 12 added support for 4K UIs, but thus far no Android TV product that I know of is capable of driving it.
Though I love the device otherwise, the 1080p UI provided by my SHIELD TV Pro is noticeably blurry on my 4K TV.
One source tells me this chip is already sampling and that it'll be available for mass production towards the end of Q2 2024. Another source says it'll be ready in Q1 2024, though.
H/T AndroidTV_Rumor on Twitter
—-
The upgrade I'm most looking forward to is the new display processor that's capable of driving a 4K UI. Android TV 12 added support for 4K UIs, but thus far no Android TV product that I know of is capable of driving it.
Though I love the device otherwise, the 1080p UI provided by my SHIELD TV Pro is noticeably blurry on my 4K TV.
👍28🤩8🔥1🥰1
This media is not supported in your browser
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
Want to test your app on a real Pixel 8, Pixel Fold, or Pixel Tablet without buying one?
Google says its Android Device Streaming program will open up to more testers when it enters Alpha next month.
Here's a video showing that you can connect to a real Pixel Fold located in a Google Data Center, straight from Android Studio.
Google says its Android Device Streaming program will open up to more testers when it enters Alpha next month.
Here's a video showing that you can connect to a real Pixel Fold located in a Google Data Center, straight from Android Studio.
👍36❤14🤯12👀3🫡2
Google Photos is preparing to switch over to Android 14's system Share sheet. Glad to see more of Google's own apps switch over to the system share sheet in Android 14!
Next step: Delete the ChooserActivity from the framework and turn the standalone IntentResolver app into a new Project Mainline module in Android 15.
Next step: Delete the ChooserActivity from the framework and turn the standalone IntentResolver app into a new Project Mainline module in Android 15.
Telegram
Google News | En
Google Photos will soon add support for Android 14's native Share sheet.
One of the key changes in Android 14 is a new system share sheet where app developers can embed their own shortcuts. The first Google app to get support for this feature was Google…
One of the key changes in Android 14 is a new system share sheet where app developers can embed their own shortcuts. The first Google app to get support for this feature was Google…
👍46🥰8❤🔥5
The Android WebView, the component which enables apps to show web content in-app, is getting enhanced support for keyboards and styluses!
Android WebView v114 adds
Android WebView v117 meanwhile "
The September 2023 Google System Updates changelog sadly doesn't elaborate much on what the new keyboard shortcuts, stylus gestures, and trackpad gestures are.
It's likely the keyboard shortcuts bit refers to adding support for shortcuts already supported by Chrome. Somewhat relevant is the fact that Android 14 greatly expands the list of keyboard shortcuts shown to tablet/foldable users.
As for the bit about trackpad gestures in Android 14, that probably refers to the gestures I revealed in this XDA-Developers article.
(H/T @nailsad_eleos)
Android WebView v114 adds
"new keyboard shortcuts for productivity" and "new Stylus Rich Gestures support from Android U+ to improve device usability".Android WebView v117 meanwhile "
support[s] the standard trackpad gestures on Android U+ for productivity".The September 2023 Google System Updates changelog sadly doesn't elaborate much on what the new keyboard shortcuts, stylus gestures, and trackpad gestures are.
It's likely the keyboard shortcuts bit refers to adding support for shortcuts already supported by Chrome. Somewhat relevant is the fact that Android 14 greatly expands the list of keyboard shortcuts shown to tablet/foldable users.
As for the bit about trackpad gestures in Android 14, that probably refers to the gestures I revealed in this XDA-Developers article.
(H/T @nailsad_eleos)
👍35🤡3💅3❤1