Duo is getting an update to v32 today, following shortly after the launch of the long-awaited ability to link a Google account. There aren't any immediately obvious changes in the UI for this version, and a look through the teardown seems to support that it contains mostly changes to phrasing and other tweaks to improve the sign-up process. However, a few things were discovered during a teardown, including a tool for exporting call history, which is already live.

What's New

Unofficial Changelog: (the stuff we found)

  • Call history export tool (possibly not sticking around)

Exporting call history

Disclaimer: Before we go into this topic, let me be clear that this might not be intended for regular users and could be pulled out in a future update. That being said, there's now a tool in Duo that can be used to instantly export your call history.

There isn't any UI inside the app allowing you to launch the exporter. Rather, you just have to launch an activity manually with another app or by sending a command via ADB. For those that want to try this out, the ADB command is shown below.

[code]adb shell am start -n com.google.android.apps.tachyon/com.google.android.apps.tachyon.ui.exportcallhistory.ExportCallHistoryActivity[/code]

Left: Share dialog. Right: Google Keep note containing call history.

The output isn't particularly pretty, it's just a CSV (comma-separated values) list containing the time and date of each call, phone number, direction of the call (i.e. incoming or outgoing), and duration in seconds. You'll immediately get a share dialog with targets that can accept plain text. The screenshot above shows the note I get after exporting to Google Keep.

There are definitely reasons regular people will want to be able to export their calling history from Duo, and it's possible Google wants to make that accessible. If this exporter is going to stick around, we'll probably see a short workflow launched from the Settings screen to explain what's going to come out of it, and there might even be some simple security steps to ensure only the phone's owner is exporting the log. On the other hand, this could just be a testing tool the developers added and never intended for regular use, so it might be gone by the next update.

Teardown

Disclaimer: Teardowns are based on evidence found inside of apks (Android's application package) and are necessarily speculative and usually based on incomplete information. It's possible that the guesses made here are totally and completely wrong. Even when predictions are correct, there is always a chance that plans could change or may be canceled entirely. Much like rumors, nothing is certain until it's officially announced and released.

The features discussed below are probably not live yet, or may only be live for a small percentage of users. Unless stated otherwise, don't expect to see these features if you install the apk.

Bokeh effect

We've seen plenty of signs that there are experiments with the camera effects in both Allo and Duo, most recently spotted was work on a "Drishti" effect. While none have gone live yet, text for a new effect has been added, and it's probably the most likely to make the cut.

We're talking about bokeh, the look of having sharp focus on the main subject of a scene while everything else is blurry. Many people might now associate this with the term "portrait mode" (or "focus selfie" on Samsung's phones) since that's the name used by many recent flagships to define the same effect.

<string name="turn_bokeh_effect_on_button">Turn Bokeh effect on</string>

<string name="turn_bokeh_effect_off_button">Turn Bokeh effect off</string>

<string name="bokeh_effect_on">Bokeh effect on</string>

<string name="bokeh_effect_off">Bokeh effect off</string>

So far, the button has been added to the layout for video controls, but it's not live yet on any device I've tested. Seeing as the bokeh effect button has been given a place in the UI, it's likely this isn't just a test.

Rotation support?

There was one final addition that's a little interesting, especially for tablet users. A line was added to an internal preferences file that seems to suggest the developers are experimenting with allowing Duo to auto-rotate with a device rather than locking it to portrait orientation.

<boolean name="pref_force_portait" value="false" />

found in com.google.android.apps.tachyon_preferences.xml

There probably aren't a lot of people clamoring for free rotation on phones, but we've seen this requested in the comments by tablet users a few times, so it's not hard to imagine a few people will be eager to see this news.

Download

The APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.

Google Meet Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
4.5
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