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Can Firefox replace Google Chrome on your Android phone?
Firefox has come a long way since last year's redesign
Mozilla Firefox might be a beloved desktop browser, but on Android, its market share looks like nothing but a rounding error. That might be one of many reasons why Mozilla decided to rewrite its mobile browser from scratch with a new rendering engine, a revamped interface, better performance, and more privacy features. Now that Mozilla has had one and a half years to fine-tune the product, I decided to give this new Firefox a thorough test on my Android phone to see how it compares against the standard most people stick with, Google Chrome.
What's new in Chrome 95, coming to Android 12 in a new Material You look (APK Download)
Secure Payment Confirmation, Eyedropper support, web app improvements, and more
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The Pixel Fall Launch event and the Pixel 6 may have overshadowed anything else going on in the Google cosmos, but the company also launched Chrome 95 to the stable channel on the same date. If that seems fast to you, it's because Google has accelerated its releases from a six-week cycle to a four-week schedule. And as such, there are fewer new features to be seen this time around. Let's dive into what's up.
Your Pixel phone is picking up some colorfully adorable new wallpapers for Mental Health Awareness Day
Sit down and relax
Mental Health Awareness Day was first observed in 1992, at the initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health, a global mental health organization with members in over 150 countries, to bring attention to mental illnesses and their effects on people worldwide. If you want to show your support on your Pixel device, you can now do so, as Google has released a handful of colorful wallpapers to observe the day.
If your Pixel can't tell what song is playing, maybe Now Playing's new cloud search feature can
Why wasn't this a thing already?
Google's Pixel phones have had a feature called Now Playing for years. Basically, your phone keeps a record of several thousand songs for offline detection, letting you identify them when one's playing nearby. And it works pretty fine. Or at least, it works fine as long as your song is popular-ish. While an offline equivalent to Shazam built right into the system is amazing to have, it couldn't possibly identiy every song you might run across. Now it looks like cloud search is coming to help do something about that.
Android Auto is used by a lot of car manufacturers, and if they don't support that, chances are you can at least use Apple's CarPlay — except for Teslas. Tesla cars use their own operating system for their dashboard, one that's often compared against Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It's exclusive to Tesla cars, and while it has many advantages, sometimes you might want to use something else, but that's currently not natively supported. Fear not, though: thanks to a new hack, Tesla cars can now enjoy Android Auto. Or, at least, they sort of can.
Firefox 93 for Android wants to become your new password manager (APK Download)
The latest browser version can act as an autofill service across all of Android
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The last few Firefox releases haven't exactly been exciting on Android, but that's changing with version 93 — if you use Firefox as your password manager, that is. The new release can serve as your password autofill service across all of your apps on Android, much like Mozilla's own Lockwise app (or any other competing password manager, for that matter).
Google recently announced four new cameras for its Nest lineup, but only two of them were actually available at the time of the announcement: The Nest Cam (battery) and the new Nest Doorbell (battery). The anticipated Nest Cam (wired) may have just reared its head, though. A recent version of the Google Home app is displaying the product name during the camera setup process, and might indicate a launch is imminent.
The OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro are getting a new Android 12 Developer Preview
The OxygenOS/ColorOS merger is going through
The merger of OxygenOS and ColorOS, as part of OnePlus becoming essentially a subbrand of Oppo, has been coming for some time, and the merged OS should begin arriving for all supported smartphones with the upcoming Android 12 release. If you're currently enrolled in the OnePlus Developer Preview program on your 9 or 9 Pro, you can get an early look with a new release now arriving for your phone.
How to try out Google's new Android TV remote on your phone
It's better than the old app, but is it better than a real remote?
Google just released a new software remote for Android TV and Google TV devices. That's a fancy way of saying that you have a new way to use your phone to control your smart TV's Android-powered guts. Of course, Google's had a dedicated app with that functionality for a while, but it wasn't great. In fact, Google recently de-listed and ended support the old app. So, what's this new method like? In short: Pretty good for most people.
Hey Google, get ready for a Material You refresh for Assistant
The staged rollout is starting on Android 12 beta
Assistant is a key part of Google's app ecosystem. Since it was first introduced in 2016 with the first Google Pixel smartphones, Google has made it central to the Pixel experience and to Android in general. And being so important to Google, it was just logical for it to be one of the next apps to get its respective dose of Material You redesign. A redesign for the Google Assistant, complete with dynamic theming, is now rolling out.
Zoom brings 'mute' to your eyeballs with video feed blocking
So you can stop seeing that one coworker's ironic coffee mugs
Virtual meetings over Zoom have become all too popular over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, and they're potentially going to be a big part of life going forward. Already supporting virtual meetings with up to 100 people, Zoom gets constantly updated with new features. Now the Zoom app is getting another feature drop with a handful of quality-of-life improvements that aim to make it a little more enjoyable to use.
Viber racks up one billion installs, even without your help
You might not be using it, but a lot of people are
When you think of messaging apps, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and any of Google's 47 attempts likely come to mind. As mainstream as those services might be, they aren't the only options you'll find for texting your friends and loved ones. Viber isn't as recognizable a name, but it's been quietly popular for years now. Today, it passed the one billion installs milestone, marking its place among other ultra-successful apps like Google Messages and Snapchat.
LineageOS arrives to trick out your Pixel 5a
For those who want to go a step further than Google's software
LineageOS not only helps older and lower-end phones get a taste of the latest Android, but it also provides even more capable devices with an alternative firmware option. In the case of phones that arrive with their own skins, like models from Samsung and Xiaomi, LineageOS offers an opportunity to enjoy some stock-looking Android. If you just bought an all-new Pixel 5a and want to install LineageOS on it, now you can do so, as builds are becoming available.
If installs were currency, Google Pay would have 500 million in the bank
Seems like mobile payments are as popular as ever
Mobile payments are the way of the future (or so I've been told), and it seems Google's well aware of that. The company has spent the last year completely renovating its Pay app to be far more advanced than anything that's come before. Spending habits, sending and requesting money from friends, and rewards programs are all part of the relaunched effort, and with its latest installs milestone, it seems to be paying off for Google (no pun intended).
YouTube's latest user interface update isn't the one you were hoping for
Finally, some more consistency for the YouTube app
YouTube is a bit of a weird outlier when it comes to Android app design. While there are some interface inconsistencies among all Google apps, YouTube has long stood out as the app with a much shorter app header, a dated gray status bar, and more diversions from the norm. While its header retains its height for now, YouTube has at least finally added a seamless white status bar to its light theme.
Pastel color schemes that adapt to your taste and buttons with low-radius corners are the hallmarks of the Material You design scheme for Android and it's been taking over Google's apps one by one. We're now seeing a drip and a drop of its essence coming down to Maps.
Google Pay growth continues to explode, with dozens upon dozens of new banks signing on
No, YOU'RE a bank
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Google Pay has come a long way over the years, most recently with a complete redesign now under its belt. Not too long ago we crossed an eagerly anticipated milestone for the mobile payment app, with the service finally surpassing more than 3,000 banks in the US, and now it's adding even more.
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As we get closer to the official launch of Android 12, Google is updating more of its apps to support all of its new Material You themes. Gboard was one of the first to receive a makeover, with its fresh color scheme now available to anyone running the latest Android beta. However, it seems like the look isn't quite complete yet, as new Material You elements are on the way in an upcoming release.
You might be in a bunch of groups on WhatsApp with each of them serving different people, different purposes, just everything different. How you feel about each of them will vary. With that in mind, the app is developing a way for users to quickly create a group icon.
It took Google a long time to include a podcast app on Android by default, eventually building one directly into its mobile search application. It's become surprisingly popular thanks to its ease of use and free accessibility, and it's about to look a whole lot better too. Fresh off of some changes to its core UI, Google Podcasts is next up for its Material You makeover, and it's looking pretty spiffy if we do say so ourselves.