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This website lets you create custom wallpapers from your favorite emojis
You've heard of Emoji Kitchen, now get ready for emoji wallpapers
Emoji are becoming increasingly vital for online communication, and many people just can't get enough of the ubiquitous "picture characters." And if you'd like to go as far as decorating your homescreen's background with a hand-picked selection of emoji, you've now got a chance thanks to Oculus/Dropbox/Google engineer Nicholas Jitkoff and Google Maps coder Alastair Tse. They created emoji supply, a web tool that allows you to create and share your own wallpapers based on emoji, and it's incredibly fun.
Your 100+ open Chrome tabs will be easier to navigate with this flag
You can enable a scrollable tabstrip à la Firefox
Joggling bazillions of open tabs has always been a hassle in Chrome. In contrast to Firefox or Safari, the Google browser doesn't make the tabstrip scrollable — tabs just keep getting smaller until you can only tell them apart by favicon, and the rightmost tabs will even start disappearing at some point (I've been there, trust me). Google introduced tab groups to mitigate that problem, but the company has also long been wanting to introduce a scrollable tabstrip as an alternative. And in Chrome version 88, you can finally enable the first version of a scrollable tab bar via a flag.
According to an email Google is sending out to Wear OS developers, sideloading apps that aren't available on the Play Store is about to get a lot more complicated starting March 10. You'll no longer be able to sideload apps from your phone via the Play Store -> Apps on your phone section on watches, making it next to impossible to add unapproved apps to your watch without turning to tools meant for developers, like the Android Debug Bridge (ADB).
Android TV is now receiving its Google TV-inspired facelift (APK Download)
Say hello to a new three-tab interface
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Following a minor facelift of the Play Store TV interface and the completely new Google TV UI, the regular Android TV experience is in for an overhaul. After announcing a new three-tabbed look for Android TVs earlier this month, Google's beginning to start updating devices.
Kitty Letter is a cat-themed 'words with enemies' game by the creator of The Oatmeal
It's best described as 'Scrabble meets Clash Royale'
The Oatmeal creator Matthew Inman isn't only famous for his humorous webcomics; he also made a name for himself as the creator of card games like Exploding Kittens and Bears vs. Babies. The former even made it to Android in the form of a mobile game, and now Inman is ready to launch another free-to-play video game: Kitty Letter, which he describes as "Scrabble combined with Clash Royale."
How to reliably sideload the latest Google apps on Android 11
Try this if you get the dreaded verification failure error
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This week, it was uncovered that a Google Play Pass app with over 10 million installs turned into malware and distributed pesky popup advertisements. Google already long removed this app from the Play Store, but due to its generic name — "Barcode Scanner" — the original, legitimate Barcode Scanner app bearing the same name found itself caught in the crossfire and received numerous unwarranted 1-star ratings accusing it of being malware.
You can disable Reddit's maddening 'Open in app' popup once and for all
The option is just a checkbox away
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Reddit's mobile website is pretty well made, fast, and responsive — if it wasn't for the pesky "See this post in ... Reddit App" popup that slides up from the bottom every time you open a Reddit link someone sent you. But it turns out there's a way to get rid of it, and it was hidden right under our noses the whole time.
The Gmail app may lack some basic features like access to filtering rules, but at least the Android app is a little less overwhelming than the website. And when Google is not busy adding bottom bars with spam or a new icon nobody asked for, the company sometimes does tweak the user experience in satisfying ways. As an avid Redditor noticed, the Gmail app now offers vibration feedback when you use swipe gestures.
This Google Play Pass app with over 10 million installs has been outed as malware
Make sure it's not on your phone
Google's reign over the Play Store often feels arbitrary, with legitimate apps disappearing for bogus reasons like out-of-context words or images while malware is striving. Another case has surfaced of an app turning into malware right under Play Protect's nose, and this time, the perpetrator is a Play Pass app with over 10 million installs: The generically named Barcode Scanner app. It has been removed since its discovery, but the developer's account remains active and offers other applications.
Here's why some Google app updates can’t be sideloaded on Android 11
Looks like it's an intentional change after all
When the Pixel 5 and 4a 5G were released, Google also updated a few of its first-party apps — the Camera and the Recorder, to be specific. But when people with older Pixel phones tried to sideload these to their phones, some ran into an odd INSTALL_FAILED_VERIFICATION_FAILURE error message even though the cryptographic signature matched and there should've been nothing standing in the way. We quickly found a workaround, but we never really understood why the error was popping up in the first place. Thanks to an investigation by our friends over at XDA, we now have an idea of what causes the problem.
Xiaomi just announced an aggressively priced 75-inch QLED Android TV
Who needs cinemas when you have a 75-inch screen at home?
Xiaomi announced the Mi 11 for international markets today and detailed its MIUI 12.5 rollout plans, but that isn't the only thing the company took the stage for. It's also expanding its Mi TV lineup with one of its biggest products yet, the 75-inch big Mi TV Q1. The QLED Android TV set will come to Europe first and cost from €1299 (~$1560).
As part of the Mi 11 international launch event, Xiaomi has also announced the forthcoming MIUI 12.5 rollout. The new version might only be a point release, but it adds some thoughtful touches to the Xiaomi ROM, such as CPU usage improvements and uninstallable system apps. It's rolling out to the Mi 11 and a few other new phones first.
Google is working on a minor Play Store redesign that does away with the hamburger menu, moving its contents to the account switcher instead. But as a tipster shared with us, that might not be the only change coming at us once that new interface rolls out widely. We've received screenshots of a redesigned settings page that separates and orders options better.
Google is considering Apple-like anti-tracking features for Android
A report says this is still in early internal talks
According to a report from Bloomberg, Google is exploring its own alternative to Apple's anti-tracking features to be introduced in an iOS 14 update. The company is in early internal talks on how it could limit data collection and cross-app tracking on its operating system, trying to balance its interests as an advertising company and users asking for more privacy.
Xiaomi's latest concept phone maximizes screen real estate... and accidental touches
It clearly didn't get the memo about curved screens being out of fashion
Xiaomi is known for its affordable but powerful handsets, but the company also loves to push the boundaries of what's possible with its concept phones. It introduced the Mi Mix Alpha in 2019 with a wrap-around screen, only interrupted by a small strip with the camera. And today, the company is back with another interesting concept sporting a quad-curved waterfall display — i.e., tons of space for accidental touch input.
Wink slowly starts coming back online following week-long outage
The company is trying desperately trying to retain customers
Wink has been battling a severe outage for about a week and a half now, but it finally looks like its servers are slowly coming back online. The company has updated its status page, saying, "A fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results. Most Hubs are back online." However, many customers are ready to cancel their mandatory subscriptions due to the events, and there's not much the cash-strapped company can do about it.
The OnePlus Nord just received its third Android 11 Open Beta
UI improvements and camera bug fixes are on board
Less than two weeks after OnePlus rolled out OxygenOS 11 Open Beta 2 to the Nord, the company is already bringing the third pre-release software to the phone. In contrast to the second update, this roughly 200MB big firmware packs just a few tweaks and fixes.
Vivaldi Browser 3.6 lets you tweak websites to your liking with Page Actions
A QR code reader and external download manager support is also on board
Vivaldi may "just" be another Chromium fork, but the browser packs some unique features. Its interface is customizable to the bone, offering desktop-like tabs, a bottom bar, and a forced dark mode. Now the Android browser is expanding these capabilities to websites with version 3.6, giving you the option to modify their appearance. Vivaldi also gains a QR code reader, new Speed Dial features, and support for external download managers with this update.
The Galaxy S21 series is starting to arrive at the doorsteps of those who ordered or pre-ordered, but in Europe, some new owners are experiencing strange bugs. There are reports of phones not receiving OTA updates and issues with Samsung Pay. The problems seem to be particularly widespread in the UK and Italy, and they appear to be related to some phones being set up with the wrong CSC (Country Specific Code).