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Google Discover will get a major theming overhaul in Android 12
Google Doodles spread their background color down the feed
Google is focusing on the visual experience of Android 12. The latest fruit of that endeavor is a bit of fresh paint on the Discover feed. Google Doodles, the little shifting variations on the Google logo, have appeared at the top of the feed for a while now. But with the latest version of Google search installed on Android 12, Doodles now theme the background of the feed itself. Neat.
A couple of weeks ago, news broke that WhatsApp would start encouraging users to agree to its problematic new privacy policy. And by "encourage," we mean that they would start disabling some of the app's features for users that refused to agree. It was, to put it lightly, a big freakin' deal in an increasingly ugly saga of WhatsApp transitioning to a less user-focused service. A new report indicates that WhatsApp is backing away from this contentious behavior.
Samsung's cheaper Galaxy Tab S7 is leaking all over the place
Apparently it will be called the 'Galaxy Tab S7 FE' when it finally hits shelves
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Predicting that Samsung will release a new Lite-flavored Galaxy tablet doesn't make you Nostradamus: the company is the only one (aside from Amazon) that consistently scores hits with Android tablet hardware. We've seen inklings of the Galaxy S7 Lite earlier this year, but prolific leaker Onleaks is back with images and a full 360-degree render of the upcoming device.
This app will count literally anything you show it
'CountThings from Photos' is an industrial analysis tool that counts all the things
Humans aren't especially good at counting things. That's why we invented math to make it easier and harder at the same time, then we invented computers to do math for us. Thousands of years of societal achievement have now reached their natural conclusion in the CountThings from Photos app. We're all done here, everybody can climb back into the trees.
There might finally be a reason to buy a Surface Duo — if you’re big into Xbox cloud gaming
An update to the Xbox Game Pass app gives its lower screen dedicated touch controls
Admit it, Nintendo fans: when Microsoft revealed its first official Android-powered smartphone, all you saw was a $1400 Nintendo DS Pro. With its newfound focus on streaming games in the Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft is reevaluating how it approaches them on the Surface Duo. With the latest version of the Android app, controls on the Duo can be entirely assigned to one screen in your hand, leaving the second screen free for gameplay.
Verizon unlimited subscribers are about to get a ton of free games
Choose Google Play Pass or Apple Arcade, on the house
Both Google and Apple offer a premium subscription for a curated selection of mobile apps: Google Play Pass is $5 a month for more than 800 premium apps and games on the Play Store, and Apple Arcade is $5 a month for over 180 games. But if you happen to have a Verizon unlimited plan, you can pick up six months or a year of either, depending on which plan you choose. And refreshingly, this upgrade applies to all existing customers, no new signup required.
AT&T will sell you a new Samsung Galaxy A32 for as little as $150
Just make sure you read the fine print
The AT&T version costs 0 (the same as the unlocked phone) and it comes in any color you want, so long as you want "awesome black." The carrier is offering a $5-a-month for 30 months promotion if you start a new line or upgrade an existing one, which brings the total price down to just $150. That's a pretty sweet deal, so long as you're fairly sure you want to keep the same phone for two and a half years. This promotion ends on June 3rd.
Future Google Play Services updates may improve Snapdragon performance
Qualcomm's Neural Network API updates will be included in Google Play Services
Do you know what the Neural Networks API is? If you don't, it's fine, it's one of those surprisingly complex things that makes a lot of different parts of Android better without ever being very visible to the end user. Long story short: it allows developers to apply some of the extremely complicated parts of neural network processing to local Android hardware, getting a boost in performance in the background. And starting soon, it'll benefit from the same kind of regular driver updates that Qualcomm has been using for its GPU driver updates.
OnePlus 7, 7 Pro, 7T, and 7T Pro updates are here with May security patches
It also fixes some camera bugs and Google Fi issues
All four of the phones in the OnePlus 7 series are getting updated this weekend, patching the build of OxygenOS to 11.0.1.1. While this is mainly a series of bug fixes, the biggest change is upgrading the Android security patch to May 2021. The update is rolling out to the OnePlus 7, OnePlus 7 Pro, OnePlus 7T, and OnePlus 7T Pro now.
Soon you'll be able to turn off your phone with your voice
An upcoming addition to Google Assistant will let it turn off an Android phone
Recently we learned that Google's taking a familiar direction in Android 12: making the power button do something besides powering off your phone. By default pressing the power button will open Google Assistant, mirroring similar functions from the iPhone and Samsung phones. It looks like Google recognizes that this is a less-than-intuitive way to go about things, because it's building in a power down command to Assistant.
Google is officially late to the sourdough party
Google hops on last year's trend in another weird Switch to Pixel ad
Over the last few months, Google has been making increasingly strange commercials trying to convince people to switch from other smartphones (or possibly a banana) to Pixel. The latest, while ostensibly being a guide to transferring your data from another phone, is actually a lightning-fast guide to baking sourdough bread.
WhatsApp makes voice message speed controls available for everyone
It's gradually rolling out to all users
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Some people speak faster than others. Some listen faster than others. If the discrepancy gets on your nerves, specifically when you're listening to a voice message someone left you in WhatsApp, you might want to hop on the beta channel. The option to increase playback speed (as seen in some podcast managers) is now rolling out to beta users.
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Clubhouse finally brought its service to Android this month. Although it launched in a limited closed beta, the app has been rapidly expanding its availability. While you'll still need an invite to access the service, you can finally check out Clubhouse on your phone no matter where you live in the world.
Third-party app stores like Amazon's will be less annoying to use on Android 12
If implemented right, apps updated from alternative stores can skip a safety pop-up
Android has always been open, for a given value of "open," a property that companies like Samsung, Amazon, and Epic have used to create their own alternatives to the Play Store. But actually using those alternatives has always been a bit of a headache, with Android itself treating each individual app downloaded as a side-loaded app. Starting with Android 12, using alternative app stores will be a little more seamless, at least some of the time.
The hard-to-find 'Oh So Orange' Pixel 4 is $400 off today
B&H's discount might be the last one you ever see on a new, unopened Pixel 4
The Pixel 4 wasn't the best phone around, even when it launched, but it's still one of the best ways to get both high-end hardware and Google software straight from the coding oven. Today B&H Photo is offering the 128GB Oh So Orange version at $499, a whopping $400 off the original retail price (for the boosted storage model) and $200 less expensive than last year's Pixel 5.
Google will finally try out its own retail store this summer
We'll see if they can last longer than Microsoft
Google's range of physical hardware products is expanding more and more every year. Isn't it time that the company expanded beyond a few Best Buy shelf displays and started making its own stores? Someone at Google thinks so, because the first branded store is opening this summer. The Google Store (catchy) will be located in Chelsea, New York City, in the Port Authority Commerce Building at 111 Eighth Avenue.
Lucky LG employees can reportedly buy the company's last unreleased phones, including the Rollable
"Lucky" so long as you don't value, like, software support or anything
LG's ignoble exit from the smartphone business made headlines last month. But an international electronics giant doesn't simply flip a switch and exit a market: there were plenty of in-development phones still floating around LG offices and factories when it decided to stop making them. According to one noted leaker, the company is selling off the last Android phones it will ever make straight to its employees.
Android 12 Beta introduces support for Bluetooth LE Audio
Your next Bluetooth headphones will last longer on a charge with Android 12
Android 12 news is coming fast and furious at the moment, but one of the smallest changes introduced in Beta 1 might make life a little easier for fans of Bluetooth headphones. The beta introduced support for Bluetooth LE Audio, a low-energy, high-efficiency mode for headphones and other audio devices. The API support is live now: if your headphones support LE Audio, they should use it automatically when connecting.
App hibernation is live in Android 12 Beta 1
You can try it out now, and by now, we mean in a few months
Most smartphone users have at least a few apps that they've installed, played around with for a day or so, and then entirely forgotten. These apps are using up precious storage and CPU cycles, so Google's been working on a way to get rid of them in a more subtle way. It's called app hibernation, and we've heard about it as an Android 12 feature for a while. Apparently it's live in the Android 12 beta released yesterday.
All the new Google Maps features announced at I/O
There's a ton of new stuff coming to the app and the web later this year
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While Google I/O gets a lot of attention for Android, Chrome, and Search, Google hasn't rested on its laurels for one of its most successful products: Maps. According to the I/O keynote presentation, over 100 improvements to the system are currently in the works, many of which are relying on new AI developments.