Tuesday, January 30, 2018

ELEPHONE U/U Pro Reservations Now Open

On February 8, in Madrid Spain, Elephone plans to launch their newest phones which include the Elephone U and U Pro. Right now you can reserve one of these phones for yourself, and even claim a free gift to go along with your purchase.

Specs Elephone U Elephone U Pro
CPU Helio P23 Snapdragon 660
RAM 4/6GB 4/6GB
Storage 128GB 128GB
Camera 13MP+13MP dual camera 13MP+13MP dual camera
Display FHD+ AMOLED display FHD+ AMOLED display
Battery 3620mAh 3550mAh

The new U and U Pro will feature curved infinity AMOLED displays which bend over the sides of the phone, creating a true bezel-less design.

The U Pro will feature some more premium functions, like wireless charging, a Snapdragon 660 chipset, and NFC. Both new phones will also have face unlock, which has proven to be a new favorite feature among smartphone users. Dual 13MP sensors will be found in the cameras of these phones, which should produce some impressively high quality photos.

If you reserve your U or U Pro now, you'll get access to a free gift that will be shipped out with your phone.

  Reserve the Elephone U/U Pro Now



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OxygenOS Open Beta 5/3 for the OnePlus 5/5T Released with Bug Fixes and Other Improvements

OnePlus launched the Android Oreo-based OxygenOS Open Beta programs for the OnePlus 5 and the OnePlus 5T in late 2017, shortly after it kicked off the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T Oreo betas. They've generally enhanced or added to features in the stable releases of OxygenOS, and these are no exception.

In the latest OxygenOS Open Beta — Open Beta 5 and Open Beta 3 for the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T, respectively —  OnePlus focused mainly on bug fixes and improvements, addressing common complaints like the direction you swipe with your finger to answer an incoming phone call. It also removed OxygenOS's Clipboard function, and added new touch-based getures to the navigation bar.

You can check out the changelog below.

OxygenOS Open Beta 5/3 for the OnePlus 5/5T Changelog

Phone

  • Added pick-up gesture switcher
    • You can now choose which way you slide (up or down) to pick up a phone call

System

  • General bug fixes and improvements
  • Removed Clipboard function
    • Thanks for your feedback, we removed this feature based on that.
  • Applied CPU security patch: CVE-2017-13218
  • Added new Navigation gestures that you can enable by going into settings and disabling the nav bar.

India only

  • Added SMS categorization function for India only
    • This is an India only feature that auto-sorts your SMS messages into categories

You can install the Open Beta by following the instructions in the announcement posts, where you'll also find survey forms you can use to provide OnePlus with details of your experience.

If you are already enrolled in the OnePlus Open Beta on the OnePlus 5/5T, you should receive a notification to update over-the-air to Open Beta 3 or Open Beta 5, depending on which phone you're using. If you choose to install the updates, be forewarned that it is possible you will run into bugs and other instabilities. If that's a problem, you might be better off waiting for the stable release, which is likely to come in weeks or months.

You can read the announcement below. Be sure to give it a try if you're interested!


OxygenOS Open Beta 5 for the OnePlus 5 OxygenOS Open Beta 3 for the OnePlus 5T



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Android One Xiaomi Mi A1 Kernel Sources Finally Released

Four months after the launch of the Xiaomi Mi A1, Xiaomi's first Android One smartphone, the company finally released the kernel source code in compliance with the GPLv2 license. It has taken a lot to get to this point, but what makes it worse is these are kernel sources for Android Nougat. The phone is already on Android Oreo.

The Linux kernel's GPLv2 license requires that Android manufacturers publish kernel sources in a timely manner, but it took Xiaomi nearly half a year to release the Xiaomi Mi A1's code. Earlier this month, XDA Recognized Developer franciscofranco, took to Twitter to demand the kernel source release, and publications including Ars Technica and Android Police joined in.

Even without the kernel sources, the community persevered and developed custom ROMs for the Xiaomi Mi A1, albeit with pretty major compatibility issues.

The impetus for the source code's publication on Tuesday isn't clear. It might have been public pressure, or perhaps it aligned with the company's roadmap. (In January, Xiaomi's Lead Product Manager Jai Mani said that the company's internal goal was to release the Xiaomi Mi A1's source code within three months of the device's launch.) It's also not yet clear why Google didn't step in, given that it exercises a greater degree of control over devices in the Android One program than stock Android smartphones.

It's a shame the source code is being released so late, as the phone is unlikely to receive the kind of time and attention from developers it might have in the weeks after its debut. At the phone's launch event last year, Xiaomi called it a "milestone" in its global expansion, and said that it hoped for it to be one of the first devices to receive Android P when it's eventually announced an launched.

It's now far into the Xiaomi Mi A1's lifecycle, and some developers might no longer wish to develop for it — the initial hype for custom ROMs and development is bound to be many orders of magnitude smaller than it would have been at the Xiaomi Mi A1's peak. Still, it's certainly better late than never — even if the kernel sources are for Android Nougat and not Android Oreo.

Developers interested can take a look at the kernel sources below.


Xiaomi Mi A1 Kernel Sources



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Monday, January 29, 2018

Lenovo announces Moto X4 variant with 6GB of RAM for India

Motorola teased the launch of a new India-exclusive Moto X4 variant on its official Twitter account in early January, and on Monday, the Lenovo-owned company revealed the specifications, availability, and pricing of the new model.

The most notable difference is the RAM, which has been bumped to 6GB of RAM from the original Moto X4's 3GB/4GB. But in terms of other hardware, the new Moto X4 variant isn't all the different from current-gen models. It has a 5.2-inch Full HD (1920×1080) IPS display and comes with 64GB of internal storage, with support for expandable storage up to 2TB via a microSD card slot. It's got a 2.2GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 system-on-chip and a 3,000 mAh battery onboard that supplies a "full day's worth" of power. And Motorola says it comes with Android Oreo out of the box, which isn't too surprising considering the Oreo soak tests the company has been conducting around the globe.

Other features of the new Moto X4 include IP68 water- and dust-resistance, which means it can withstand up to 1.5 meters of water for 30 minutes; a 12 MP + 8 MP dual camera system; and the ability to stream audio to up to four devices simultaneously. To round it all off, the new Moto X4 also has Motorola's suite of custom Android software features, such as Moto Voice, Moto Access, Attentive Display, and one-button navigation.

The upgraded Moto X4 will be available from Flipkart from February 1 at a price of Rs 25,000 ($392.75). As of right now, Super Black is the only confirmed color configuration. A wide variety of EMI options are available for the smartphone, and customers with an Axis Bank Buzz Credit Card are eligible for a 5 percent discount.



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Google app v7.20 beta hints at new Assistant Hotword, Duo Integration for Smart Displays, and more

Google App v7.20 beta is now rolling out to users enrolled in the Google App beta on the Play Store, and while Google hasn't published an official changelog for the update, we did an APK teardown and found some changes related to the Google Assistant, Google Duo support for Smart Displays, and more in the strings file. We've noted them below.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by Google in a future build.


Google App v7.20 beta APK teardown

"Jasper" is the codename for Smart Displays powered by the Google Assistant. They're new smart speakers from companies such as LG, Sony, JBL, and Lenovo with touchscreen-enabled displays that can play videos, pull up pictures from Google Photos, and more, and strings from the Google App v7.20 beta show that they'll be able to perform video calling via Google Duo. There's built-in support for Knock-Knock and a new Video calls menu that'll allow users to sign into, sign out of, or unlink a Duo account.

  <string name="assistant_device_id_jasper_duo_preference_category_title">Video calls</string>  <string name="assistant_device_id_jasper_duo_preference_category">assistantDeviceIdJasperDuoCategory</string>  <string name="jasper_duo_account_title">Duo Account</string>  <string name="jasper_duo_knock_knock_summary">See the caller's video before you pick up. And let people you call see your video while their phone rings. &lt;a href=\"https://support.google.com/duo/answer/6376115\"&gt;Learn more&lt;/a&gt;</string>  <string name="jasper_duo_knock_knock_title">Knock-knock</string>  <string name="jasper_duo_not_signed_in">Not signed in</string>  <string name="jasper_duo_signed_in">Signed in</string>  <string name="jasper_duo_unlink">Unlink</string>  

The teardown also hints at the possibility that Google will soon enable a third hotword alongside "OK Google" and "Hey Google". However, we can only speculate at this point.

  <string name="hotword_enrollment_enroll_listening_talkback_assistant_device_again">Say it again</string>  <string name="hotword_enrollment_tgoogle_summary_header_title">\"%1$s\" is now available</string>  <string name="hotword_enrollment_tgoogle_summary_usage_example_first">"%1$s, what's my name?"</string>  <string name="hotword_enrollment_tgoogle_summary_usage_example_second">"%1$s, what's the traffic to work?"</string>  <string name="hotword_enrollment_tgoogle_summary_usage_example_third">%1$s, tell me about my day.</string>  <string name="hotword_enrollment_tgoogle_summary_usage_sample_end">You can also still say \"%1$s\" and \"%2$s\" to talk to your Assistant.</string>  <string name="hotword_enrollment_tgoogle_summary_usage_sample_title">Your Assistant will now respond when you say things like:</string>    <string name="user_defined_action_task_custom_query_query_summary">You can enter any Google Assistant command.</string>  <string name="user_defined_action_task_custom_query_query_title">What custom command would you like to run?</string>  <string name="user_defined_action_task_custom_query_title">Custom command</string>    

It also shows developments in the software platform which will power Smart Displays, known as "Quartz". We're seeing placeholders for notifications, alert badges, reminders, and playback controls (e.g., pause and play).

  <string name="quartz_badge_view_less_than_ten">%1$d</string>  <string name="quartz_badge_view_ten_or_more">9+</string>  <string name="quartz_notification_list_title">Notifications</string>  <string name="quartz_notification_type_other">Notification</string>  <string name="quartz_notification_type_reminder">Reminder</string>  <string name="quartz_photo_list_slideshow_button_pause_content_description">Pause</string>  <string name="quartz_photo_list_slideshow_button_play_content_description">Play</string>  

Google also appears to be working on more detailed order-tracking messages. The new strings contain labels indicating when items have shipped, when they're expected to be delivered, and whether the delivery's been canceled or delayed.

  <string name="order_group_header">Orders</string>  <string name="shipped">Shipped</string>  <string name="shipped_with_estimation">Shipped, delivery expected %s</string>  <string name="expect_delivery_day">%s</string>  <string name="out_for_delivery">Out for Delivery</string>  <string name="delivered">Delivered</string>  <string name="available_pick_up">Available for Pickup</string>  <string name="delayed">Delayed</string>  <string name="cancelled">Cancelled</string>  <string name="returned">Returned</string>  <string name="action_required">Action Required</string>  <string name="more_orders">More Orders</string>  

Finally, we see some developments on the podcast front. Currently, the Google App doesn't have a native podcast manager, and it's unclear when (or if) Google will launch this feature. But the new strings show the beginnings of a podcast downloader, subscription manager, and more.

  <string name="sign_in_message">Sign in to subscribe to podcasts and access your listening history on other devices</string>  <string name="sign_in_reject">Not now</string>  <string name="sign_in_accept">Sign in</string>  <string name="downloads">Downloads</string>  <string name="downloaded_episodes">Downloaded episodes</string>  <string name="download_setting_message">Downloaded episodes are removed after 30 days or 24 hours after completion</string>  <string name="all_downloaded_episodes">All downloaded episodes</string>  <string name="homebase_link_tool_tip_message">See your subscriptions here</string>  <string name="opt_in_message">Web &amp; App Activity is turned off. Turn it on to access your podcasts and listening history on other devices.</string>  <string name="remove_completed_episodes">Remove completed episodes</string>  <string name="remove_unfinished_episodes">Remove unfinished episodes</string>  

We will update this post if we find any more interesting things in the teardown.

If you're looking for the latest Google App beta, enroll in the preview program and update the Google App from the Google Play Store.

Google (Free, Google Play) →



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[Update: Reverted] Chrome for Android will soon support Chrome’s DNS Prefetching for Faster Web Browsing

Update 1/29/18: The Asynchronous DNS feature has been reverted due to an unspecified bug.

Chrome for Android will soon support DNS prefetching, a technology that allows for faster web browsing, according to a merged commit in the Chromium Gerrit.

DNS prefetching, which is also known as asynchronous DNS, has existed as a flag in desktop Chrome since 2012, when it was introduced as an experimental feature and disabled by default. Since then, it's gotten some development attention, and in some cases can now cut page loading times by a few seconds.

Here's how it works: When you visit a webpage using any web browser, your browser queries a Domain Name Server (DNS) to get the IP address of that webpage. It's to eliminate the need to remember IP address numbers for different websites — imagine having to type "209.85.203.94" into your browser's URL bar every time you wanted to visit Google! It's impractical, and a much easier alternative is assigning names to web pages and having those names resolve back to an IP address.

DNS servers around the world keep a database of websites and their associated IPs, but there's a problem: When you're browsing the web, the DNS lookup process can take a few whole seconds in some cases. That leaves folks with perfectly capable connections waiting for servers to finish name resolution and return a website's IP address, which is where Chrome's asynchronous DNS feature comes in.

With the DNS prefetching flag in Google Chrome on Android enabled, Chrome scans the page for clickable links and resolves the URLs to IP addresses. By the time you head to any of the pages, their addresses will have been returned to your device, mitigating any DNS speed issues — the only bottleneck will be your own connection. (Optionally, it will use your device's own DNS servers and won't touch Google's unless you want it to.)

DNS prefetching should be coming to the stable branch of Google Chrome for Android soon.

Google Chrome: Fast & Secure (Free, Google Play) →



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Progressive Web Apps can be enabled on Desktop Chrome right now—here’s how

Apps on Chrome generally offer a good user experience, but they can be nightmares for developers who have to navigate the browser's proprietary APIs. Luckily, Google's moving to adopt a platform — Progressive Web Apps — that does away with many of the complexities, and it's supported in the latest stable version of Chrome.

Enabling Progressive Web Apps in Chrome is easy. Assuming your client's up to date, all you have to do is toggle three development flags: App Banners and Experimental App Bannerswhich enable the prompts that let you install web apps; and Desktop PWAs, which adds windowing and banner support for PWAs.

Progressive Web App flags in Chrome.

It's all downhill from there. Once you've enabled the relevant flags and typed in a PWA's web address, you'll see an Install to desktop option in Chrome's drop-down menu.

Then you'll get an Install to desktop pop-up prompt. Clicking on Add will save the PWA to your PC's desktop, where you can launch it just as you would any Chrome app.

PWAs, if you haven't heard, are web apps designed with the flexibility of desktop apps in mind. They launch from icons and shortcuts just like native apps, but their reliance on CSS3, JavaScript, and other open web frameworks allows them to work across browsers and platforms with minimal porting. By using a combination of plugins, web APIs, and scripts, they're able to juggle tasks like network requests, push notifications, content fetching, and more.

There's a lot to like about PWAs. They have the potential to reduce load times and data usage, and some even have better user interfaces than their native counterparts. But they're not perfect. Chrome lacks a first-party storefront for PWAs, for example — to find apps, you'll have to scour community showcases like PWA.rocks. And PWAs can't use Chrome to its fullest just yet. In a statement late last year, Google said that it's been "investigating ways to simplify the transition for developers that depend on exclusive Chrome App APIs."

Like or not, though, Google's going full steam ahead with PWAs. In 2017, the search giant announced that it'd phase out support for Chrome apps on Windows, Mac, and Linux in favor of PWAs by "mid-2018".



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