About Scott Scrivens
Senior UK Editor — My interest in Android began with the beautiful Nexus 4 and the less-ugly-than-before Jelly Bean. Right now, I'm probably watching Black Books, playing football (soccer), or listening to Answer Code Request.
Latest Articles
Signal beta gets some neat design tweaks and opens up payments to more users
MobileCoin payments are now available in Switzerland, France, and Germany
The latest beta version of the Signal Android app brings a few incremental design changes as well as an expansion to the privacy-focused payments it introduced back in April. MobileCoin transactions were only available to beta testers in the UK before, but they're now being rolled out to three more countries.
Sorry folks, it looks like Active Edge may not be returning with the Pixel 6 after all
We'll have to wait to be sure, but it looks like a false alarm
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Original story below...
Google's anti-competitive behavior costs it another $177 million
It's South Korea's turn to dish out an antitrust fine this time around
Only a couple of weeks after the South Korean government passed a bill that will force Google (and Apple) to allow app developers to receive payments via third-party systems, the country's regulator has dealt another huge blow to the Mountain View company. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has announced that it's fining Google's parent company Alphabet the modest sum of $177 million for abusing its dominance in the smartphone OS market.
Google squashes Android Auto location bug so you can search for services near you again
It no longer thinks you're always at home
One of the little Google features we probably all take for granted is being able to easily find services near to us via Maps, Assistant, Search, etc. Unfortunately, some Android Auto users have been encountering a bug that meant searching for anything "near me" or "nearby" would return results close to the users' homes, rather than their current location. Thankfully, Google says it's rolled out a fix.
Google Messages is getting a streamlined new attachments UI
The redesign is currently rolling out to some beta users
Google has been experimenting with various different approaches for attachments, emoji, gifs, and stickers in its SMS app in recent months. The latest incarnation is now being spotted in the beta version of Messages, replacing the blocky UI with more colorful and simplistic circular buttons.
The Nokia 5.3's better-late-than-never Android 11 update spreads to more countries
We'll take what we can get
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Google officially released the final version of Android 11 on September 8, 2020, by which point the Nokia 5.3 had already been out for six months. You may have expected it to get bumped up to the latest version soon rather than later, with it being an Android One device and all, but that's only just happening now and it'll be out of date again in around a month.
Google plans to resurrect one of Chrome's most useful audio features
Evidence points to a return of the convenient mute tab action
Do you remember when you could easily mute a tab playing audio in Chrome without going to it and manually fiddling with the player on that page? Google inexplicably removed the ability to do this back in 2018. Thankfully, it looks likely that the feature will be making a comeback.
Google Photos is testing a new way of finding your best shots
A more visual way of showing recommendations
Top Shot is one of the most useful Google Photos features, as it allows you to choose a better photo from a selection of similar images you've taken. It's been around since the Pixel 3 launched, and there's also a little suggestion chip that pops up to remind you to use it. It looks like that chip could be replaced by a new row of image previews, or at least that's what Google is currently testing on some users.
If you spend enough time using social apps, you get used to certain UX patterns. One example is the ability to react to a message or post — think Instagram or Twitter DMs — but you don't see it so much with more traditional chat apps. WhatsApp would like to change that, however, and is working to bring message reactions to its app.
Some Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 and Galaxy Watch4 pre-orders face delays due to high demand
Certain models won't ship until mid-September
Some will be lucky enough to have already received their pre-orders of Samsung's shiny new toys, including the Galaxy Z Fold3 and Galaxy Watch4, but some will have to wait a little longer than expected. Reports suggest that Samsung isn't able to keep up with demand and is having to delay certain shipments of its latest products.
Hiroshi Lockheimer leaks possible Pixel 6 Pro lockscreen showing fingerprint sensor placement
Android SVP posted, and then deleted, the screenshot on Twitter
The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro haven't been fully unveiled, but Google already shared a great deal about them when it announced the upcoming phones earlier this month. We've seen lots of images of Android 12 running on the new devices, but none of the lockscreen shots have hinted at the location of the in-display fingerprint sensor. Hiroshi Lockheimer may have just given that particular game away.
Fixing the screen on your Galaxy Z Fold3 or Z Flip3 will be incredibly expensive (unsurprisingly)
You better handle that thing with kid gloves, or maybe actual gloves
Folding smartphone displays are very difficult to produce — take a look at this teardown to see how complex these devices are — so it's understandable that the technology adds a premium to the price of Samsung's latest Galaxy phones. With that in mind, it's genuinely remarkable that the Z Flip3 costs less than $1,000. You will not want to break your screen, though, as that will be much more costly to repair than on a regular old slab phone.
Pixel 6 and 6 Pro rumored to support much faster charging
Even though there won't be a charger in the box
Google's Pixel phones have been stuck charging at 18W for several years now, and while that's not too slow, it's lagging far behind other handsets on the market right now. If this latest rumor is to be believed, Google could be about to up its game with the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro.
The Pixel 5a overheats while recording video
Confirmed in our testing, it gets too toasty while shooting in 4K at 60fps
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Recording video in 4K at 60 frames per second is understandably an intensive undertaking, but you'd hope that your phone could handle it without overheating. Unfortunately, reports suggest that the brand-new Pixel 5a gets too hot while shooting video and asks you to close the camera until temperatures return to a more reasonable level.
Now it's easier to add a splash of color to Google Sheets and Slides
Custom color themes are now front and center
Google is updating the color picker in Sheets and Slides with a small quality of life change to help you work with your custom themes more easily.
YouTube's latest trick lets you jump straight to video chapters from search
Preview snippets are also gracing the new search results page
In another big change to the way YouTube does things, it will start to show results in other languages with automatically translated captions, titles, and descriptions. It's hoped that this will allow users to learn about a wider variety of topics than they otherwise might have if they were only able to view videos in their native language. Another feature that's already being tested in India and Indonesia sees YouTube surface web links and Google Search snippets in video searches. This might be expanded to include more countries in the near future.
If you’re numb to the OnePlus-style hype train that precedes every major product launch — as we are — you may not have been following the incessant attention-seeking from Nothing ahead of its hardware debut. Rather than buy into all that, we’ve been waiting to see what they actually come up with, and well, I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised.
Nothing's much-hyped ear (1) buds are now available to purchase
They come with ANC and wireless charging for a surprisingly low price
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When Carl Pei left OnePlus and started his own company, we all knew the drill. Nothing employed infamous OnePlus-style hype tactics from the outset, but — thankfully — it's time to finally see what the company has been working on. The Nothing ear (1) seem to have all the features you'd want from a set of true wireless earbuds, and their distinctive design will no doubt elicit the fawning adoration of fashionistas and influencers.
Pixels are getting Adaptive Charging improvements with Android 12
This should help you eke a little more life out of your Pixel's battery
Google introduced Adaptive Charging with its Pixel Feature Drop in December of last year, and it works much like similar utilities on iPhones and other Android phones. If you plug in overnight, like most people, it's supposed to fast charge your Pixel up to 80% and then slows things down so it doesn't reach 100% until just before you wake up. Up to now, the feature has been a little too conservative, but it looks like Google is rectifying this with Android 12.
This Google Discover hack has us yearning for the Google Now of old
Remember when the feed was actually useful?
Once upon a time, the screen to the left of the homescreen on Google's Nexus phones and tablets was called Google Now, and it was a genuinely useful feed full of contextual information about things like your commute, upcoming calendar appointments, package deliveries, and so on. This eventually went away as the screen, now Google Discover, was turned into a news feed. There's now a way to get it back, but it's unfortunately limited to those using Xposed on a rooted device.