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It's no secret that Gmail is getting a redesign, but it looks like some new non-visual features may also be inbound. TechCrunch is reporting that "self-destructing" confidential emails with a configurable expiration date are coming to Gmail. Best of all, we can see what these new emails will look like and how they generally behave.
Most of a smartphone's "smarts" come from its data connection. Without access to the internet—and, therefore, access to things like third-party apps—a smartphone is really just a dumbphone with a touchscreen. By all appearances, that's exactly what Samsung's built with its new Galaxy J2 Pro: a smartphone that supports calls and texts, but with no data connectivity.
Based on the results of our Super Bowl poll earlier this year, most of our readers here at Android Police aren't much into sports. And that's fine, neither are we. But for those of you that are interested, ESPN has just announced a new ESPN+ streaming service for only $5 a month, as well as an updated app. The actual selection of live content might leave a bit to be desired, though.
Xiaomi is probably recognizable among our readers for its phones, and maybe even for its earbud headphones. But I doubt many of us think of cameras when we think of the 5th largest smartphone manufacturer. That said, someday we might. According to Bloomberg, Xiaomi is considering making an offer on GoPro.
It's hard enough for us to keep track of who's talking in a loud or crowded party, imagine how difficult it is for automated systems to follow. Speech recognition at a reasonable quality is really only something that's been mastered in the last decade or two, add in conflicting sounds as people talk over each other, and an already tricky problem becomes much harder.
Timely software updates are all the rage these days. From security and stability to new features, there's always a marketable reason to prefer a rapid upgrade cycle. Plenty of OEMs like Samsung and LG have committed to frequent updates, and now the latter company is stepping things up, reiterating its commitment to consumers with a new "Software Upgrade Center" office in South Korea.
If you've been following the Overwatch League (and its associated player drama/suspensions), then odds are that you're one of the tens to hundreds of thousands of people watching it via Twitch, but that isn't the only way to get your fix. The official Overwatch League app can also sling live broadcasts, and now it's been updated with Chromecast support.
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- Lawrence from the Android Auto team has posted an update on the issue on the user forums saying a fix will roll out around the end of June.
If your Android Auto head unit looks like it's been hit by a bad case of JPEG, you aren't alone. There have been some recent reports that Android Auto-powered systems are displaying "pixelated" blocky visuals. Thankfully for those affected, Google is working to fix things.
Since Essential launched the PH-1 last year, the phone has gained a cult following. Although the phone isn't without its faults, there aren't many other choices for a Snapdragon 835 below $500, and many people took advantage of last fall's Sprint and Amazon sales that saw the price fall lower, under $400. Essential also pioneered the "notch," which (like it or hate it) is only just now coming into vogue. The company and its products aren't perfect by any means, but one might even call Essential disruptive.
There are really just two ways to handle a "notch" display cutout in software. Either you have content stop before it would be cut off by it, or you allow it to go all the way to the display's true edge and suffer the loss of visibility.
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Back in July of last year, Samsung announced that its home-baked payment system, Samsung Pay, was adding PayPal as a payment method. Nine months later Samsung seems to be making good on that declaration. We've received reports that people are finally seeing the option to add a PayPal account as a form of payment in Samsung Pay.
For at least the foreseeable future, the weather is one of those things we have to plan around. Whatever advanced technologies we may develop soon, I still can't pinpoint a date and dictate with absolute certainty that it be a perfectly clear and warm day. We're subject to its whims, and that means many of us need to take it into consideration when we schedule events or dress for the day.
LineageOS announced its April Fools' Day joke at the appropriate time back on Sunday, but the gag itself wasn't ready until the most recent builds were released yesterday. Now that it has actually landed (late), the hoax has lost both its relevance and its taste. So if you flash this week's update and see a warning about software counterfeiting and cryptocurrency mining, don't freak out. It's just a very late, very bad joke.
Back in February, a commit to the Chromium Gerrit revealed that "secret" 4K Chromebooks were in the pipeline. The comment attached to the commit, at the time, seemed like just a wink and a nod to the future possibility, but it appears there may be a specific name attached to Chrome OS' 4K future. "Atlas" is the codename for a 4K-equipped board recently discovered in a file on Google's Chromium Git.
By all appearances, OnePlus' repeated presence in the news seems to indicate that it is gearing up to launch its next phone. The company has just added a bit more fuel to the fire, too, with a Twitter teaser telling us all to "6et ready," while simultaneously opening the gates to the new OnePlus 6 forum. We were already reasonably sure before, but this probably confirms the "OnePlus 6" name.
April Fools' day is almost upon us, but each year at least a few companies are unable to restrain themselves, pushing out their pranks early as the remainder dribble out over the day itself. Google's various divisions do some decent work each year—last year's Google Gnome was itpretty good, and the Maps team's 2014 Pokemon prank was memorable. OnePlus even has a history of pulling off a decent prank. But, there are a ton of individual companies and gags to follow.
There's a wide selection of mobile hardware these days, but the variations between flagships are getting fewer with every year. IP-68+ ratings and high-dpi OLED displays are commonplace now, and every new phone wins a camera award. The only real way manufacturers can differentiate is via the software experience, and everyone has an opinion when it comes to that, including those of us here at Android Police.
A big chunk of the 3.5GHz spectrum in the US—called Citizens Broadband Radio Service, or CBRS for short—is being opened up for use later this year. Originally used by the US military, the FCC decided in 2015 that the frequencies could be put to better, shared use without obstructing its current applications like Navy radar. And, according to Bloomberg, Google's building the systems that will allow for seamless use of these new frequencies.
According to a statement made by a Google employee on the Pixel product forums, a somewhat widespread problem with receiving MMS messages on the Pixel 2 XL has been resolved. But if you ask the people that claimed to be affected, you'll get a very different answer.
For a while, ZTE and Alcatel seemed like they were in a bit of a race to be the first company to release an Android Go phone in the US. Two weeks ago, Alcatel announced that its 1X would be coming stateside sometime soon, and ZTE had the Tempo Go listed but unavailable on its US site since just after its announcement. Today you can finally buy one, and it's only $79.99.