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More Android 12 UI changes are coming, including some 'Material NEXT' tweaks
An evolution in Material Design
XDA is on a tear today, releasing piles of details divined about the upcoming Android 12 release. Among those planned is a general UI refresh for Android 12, seemingly overdue given the dialed-back changes in Android 11 last year. Beyond the new theming tweaks that have already been discussed, we can look forward to some lock screen tweaks (including adjustments to the Pixel's always-on display), notification and Quick Settings panel adjustments, an unknown "letterboxing" feature for framing apps inside a window, dynamic splash screens, and more, including an abstract "Material NEXT" aesthetic beyond current Material Theme designs.
Android 11 finally gave us the ability to resize picture-in-picture windows, but it's an inconsistent feature that's tough to trigger in its current form. According to our friends at XDA Developers, Android 12 will introduce new methods that should be a little easier to discover and trigger, including a double-tap, pinch-to-resize, and even a "stashing" feature that hides it to one side temporarily. Android 11's bubble notifications might also pick up new animations in Android 12.
We may have just caught our first glimpse of Android 12. A handful of images purported to be screenshots that illustrate features in the next release have been published by XDA Developers, originating from what is reportedly an early draft of an internal Google document. They indicate bigger visual changes than we might have expected, plus a long-awaited privacy feature that's been under development since Android 10 Q, and which iOS got just last year.
Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold2 5G is now official. Rocking a Z Flip-style redesigned hinge, big folding 7.6" display (augmented by a smaller 6.2" Cover Screen), the phone will come in two colors, potentially including some hinge color customization options, as well as a Thome Browne edition. Reservations for the folding phone/tablet are also now open on Samsung's site. More official details are coming September 1st, together with pre-orders. In the meantime, Max Weinbach has spilled the beans.
Probable specs for Google's upcoming Android TV dongle leak
'Sabrina' has 2GB of RAM and a quad-core 1.8GHz SoC
Our first good look at Google's upcoming Android TV dongle came courtesy of XDA Developers, and now they're back with more details that were dug up in a leaked firmware image. We knew "Sabrina" would be powered by an unknown Amlogic chipset, but now we know the exact model and most of its specs, as well as features it's likely to support.
Massive Google Android TV leak continues with video teaser of where the interface might be heading
More details for ‘Sabrina’ were revealed in a new video
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Yesterday, our friends at XDA Developers snagged some renders and marketing images from a leaked video of Google's now long-anticipated Android TV dongle, which might get hardware codename "Sabrina." They've also confirmed that Sabrina will come with a dedicated remote, as was previously rumored. But better than that, they’ve just published a video that includes the new Android TV redesign in action.
Sony teardown reveals hot new features due for upcoming WH-1000XM4 headphones
That includes a voice-detecting pass-thru mode and multi-device pairing
Sony's WH-1000XM3 headphones are pretty much the gold standard for over-ear Bluetooth noise-canceling headphones, topping the recommendation lists everywhere, including here. Building upon everything Sony's accomplished (including the derpy name), details surrounding the upcoming WH-1000XM4 have leaked courtesy of a teardown of Sony's Headphones Connect app.
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- Our coverage has been updated to include Google's first announcement of GPU driver updating through app stores from 2017, which also predates Project Mainline.
Late last year, Qualcomm told us that GPU updates through the Play Store would be possible, starting with its new Snapdragon 865 chipset. According to XDA Developers, Xiaomi is the first company to have accomplished the feat, rolling out a GPU driver update for its Snapdragon 865-powered devices through its Chinese app store.
Google Play Movies may be gearing up to provide hundreds of movies to viewers for free — assuming they can put up with a few advertisements. The news comes courtesy of an app teardown done by the folks at XDA Developers, and with so many of us both stuck at home and trying to save money during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it's very good news, assuming it pans out.
You'd be forgiven if you're among the many that forgot the Google Play Games app even exists, but here's a reminder. Better, details surrounding a new "Play Together" social feature have been spotted in a recent teardown, and they could add enough new functionality to make the app worth remembering, too.
Friday afternoon is all about Pixel leaks, it seems like. The folks at XDA Developers just dug up some evidence from that Pixel 4a that previously showed up on video, which indicates Google's next mid-ranger will pack faster UFS 2.1 storage. That will almost certainly be a significant bump in storage speed over the comparatively "slow" eMMC in last year's Pixel 3a. Not all of our readers will be familiar with the differences between these standards, but the short version is: The Pixel 4a could anecdotally feel a lot faster.
More Galaxy S20 details have leaked out today, including basic specs, screen details like 120Hz support (with limits), and even a short hands-on video. XDA's Max Weinbach has just published yet another treasure trove of leaks for Samsung's upcoming phones, joining those from the previous few days as he continues his quest to reveal everything about the Galaxy S20.
XDA's Max Weinbach has been on a roll for the last few days, trickling out a nearly continuous stream of details surrounding Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S20 phones. In addition to showing off the very first photos of the Galaxy S20+ 5G in the wild, he's also dropping nitty-gritty details regarding specs and software. Among the most ridiculous numbers revealed so far is the fact that the higher-end Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G will come in a version with a frankly absurd 16GB of RAM — that's probably more than your laptop.
The first real-world images of Samsung's upcoming Galaxy-series have landed, thanks to the folks at XDA Developers and noted Samsung leaker Max Weinbach. In addition to confirming a more sane camera layout (in a slightly different configuration compared to previous leaks), these photos also confirm that Samsung plans on skipping a whole lot of numbers with its next flagships, jumping straight to the "Galaxy S20" name.
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Google's new Live Caption near real-time transcription feature was set to be a Pixel 4 exclusive, later coming to the Pixel 3 and 3a by the end of the year. As always in the world of Android features, it was only a matter of time until dissatisfied tinkerers got other phones got in on the fun, with or without official support. Our friends at XDA Developers have managed to get Live Caption working on any Android 10 device, including older Pixels.
When Android 10 was released, a handful of features spotted in the earlier betas weren't present. According to a bit of digging the by the folks at XDA Developers, some of those features including the Tasker-like "Rules" and built-in screen recorder may still be planned, as they were spotted on videos posted to a Google Photos page linked to by an internal version of the Google Camera app, which has since been taken down.
The XDA forums are the capitol of all Android root/ROM development efforts these days, and from its multitudes of developers and endless pages of posts come most of the homebrew software that provides us with root access, liberates draconian device restrictions, and keeps older phones ticking. Android enthusiasts aren't the only ones making use of the software there, though. Turkish OEM General Mobile recently rolled out its own Android Q beta program for two of its phones even though it isn't among the manufacturers Google lists as participating in these early Q tests. It turns out, that's because General Mobile's Android Q beta is merely a lightly-tweaked ripoff of an unofficial GSI from XDA's forums.
The camera in Google's Pixels has always taken some of the best photos in the world of smartphones, but they might be getting some expanded color chops soon — if not in existing hardware, then maybe in the Pixel 4. Google may be gearing up to add P3 wide color gamut support to the Pixel's first-party Google Camera app. According to some code dug up and enabled by developer cstark27 and subsequently tested by XDA Developers, Google has already integrated at least some of the required changes, and they were able to turn it on for testing.
In addition to the upcoming Face ID-like security planned for Android, Google could be taking yet another page from Apple's playbook — or from its own, depending on how you look at it. Our friends at XDA Developers spotted a "Display white balance" setting in earlier Android Q builds, and paired with some new sensors and a few other details, it sounds like the Pixel 4 may have the chops to dynamically adjust its white balance based on ambient light and color.
You may remember the "Adaptive sleep" option that was spotted back with Android Q Beta 3. At the time, Google told us it was a placeholder for Android OEMs to use. According to some digging through the recent Android Q Beta 4 images by the folks at XDA Developers, the feature is now called "Screen attention," and it has picked up a new animation to go with it — that's an awful lot of work for Google to make on an OEM placeholder.