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Genshin Impact 3.1 roadmap — Celebrate the second anniversary and the arrival of Deshret
Taking a look at what's coming ahead in version 3.1
The largest update of the year recently rolled out for Genshin Impact, where you'll travel to the foreign lands of Sumeru, access the newest Dendro element, and enjoy a substantial expansion on the Archon quest. The Genshin Impact 3.0 update was only the beginning; we still have more surprises coming. So we've compiled a short guide covering what's included in version 3.1. This way, you'll know exactly what to expect from Genshin Impact 3.1, including what the next juicy installment of Sumeru and the anticipated second anniversary of one of Android's best gacha games will bring. Just don't forget to grab your favorite Android phone and get ready to ride the wave of the newest update starting September 28th.
Diablo Immortal hands-on: Between the Devil and the deep blue sea
Blizzard's greed apparently knows no bounds
Yesterday Diablo Immortal started rolling out to the masses even though today is the game's official release date on mobile (with the PC beta going live today too). Since the stable version has been available for over 24 hours now, and since today is release day, I've taken the opportunity to dive deep for a hands-on, to offer my early impression of the stable release, with a lengthy gameplay video included that showcases precisely how Diablo Immortal plays (this includes the in-game shop and all settings). So if you've been eager to see what the stable release of Diablo Immortal has to offer, today's hands-on is for you.
Watch Samsung's virtual Mobile World Congress event here
We might get our first glimpse at a revitalized Wear OS today
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Google raised eyebrows back at the I/O developer conference, saying that the next iteration of Wear OS would be developed alongside Samsung. The company's Galaxy-branded smartwatches have eschewed Wear OS for years in favor of its own in-house Tizen operating system. Our first real glimpse at this hybridized Wear OS might just come later today when Samsung shows off its "vision for the future of smartwatches," and you can watch it right here.
This is how you can preview links in Chrome without opening the full website
When you just want to reference something quickly without opening an extra tab
When you surf the web, you might sometimes find yourself wanting to take a quick peek at a link in an article without really leaving the said article. In the past, you could just open that link in a new tab and return to the original site by closing it, but now, Google is rolling out an even more comfortable way: Many people are noticing a "preview page" option in the long-press menu. Here's how you can activate it if it isn't live for you yet.
Firefox Preview 4.0 published with top sites, password manager, and in-app language switcher (Update: APK Download)
Getting everything neat and tidy for the stable launch
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Mozilla has been working on a brand-new version of Firefox for Android for a long time now, and it looks like the company is doing its best to get the pre-release software ready for the stable launch. The latest version of Firefox Preview, 4.0.0, adds comfort features such as top sites, Mozilla's password manager, and an in-app language switcher.
Microsoft Remote Desktop switches beta over to new app
Switching apps is always a pain, but here's how to do it
Microsoft has offered a remote desktop solution for Android users for many years. For the past 5 years give or take, the company also gave it a companion beta app for users on the bleeding edge to test out new features. As of this month, though, the Microsoft Remote Desktop Beta app has been deprecated in favor of the new Microsoft Remote Desktop Preview app — now in early access.
Firefox developer Mozilla is busy redesigning its mobile browser from the ground up with an in-house engine running underneath. Called Firefox Preview, the experimental browser got a feature-packed update not too long ago and moved a step closer to the stable version last month. Its developer-focused Nightly build is now getting one of its most sought-after features, as support for add-ons/extensions arrive with the popular ad blocker uBlock Origin leading the way.
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It's been a long time coming — 4 months, actually, for those of you remembering back to Google I/O — but we're finally getting our first real look at Incognito Mode for Google Maps. Ironically, the pictures we have are courtesy of some members of the Google Maps Preview test group who wish to remain anonymous.
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- WABetaInfo is back with a few more screenshots depicting a behind-the-scenes Night Mode in WhatsApp. It's not clear from their findings if this is Night Mode is the evolution of the dark one they discovered earlier, or if it's a separate theme that will be available alongside it but only trigger at night.
There are few things in life more certain than Android users getting excited about an app adding a dark mode. Personally, white text on black/dark backgrounds tires my eyes, especially during daytime, but I'm not here to argue with you about personal preferences. If you like dark modes in apps, you'll be happy to know that WhatsApp is working on its own.
Hungry Dragon is the newest installment in the Hungry franchise from Ubisoft that recently soft-launched in Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and the Philippines, and is currently available as a pre-registration listing for everyone else. The official release of this game is supposed to take place on August 30th, and you can earn exclusive in-game rewards if you pre-register ahead of its publication. But before that day arrives, I wanted to take a moment to fill you in on what you can expect from the game, which is what this hands-on is all about.
One of the most divisive (read: generally disliked) features in Android P is the new gesture navigation system, which brings all the convenience of unintuitive, non-descriptive interface elements together with precisely none of the visual space-savings you'd expect to gain from gestures. The latest Android DP4/Beta 3 tweaks the pill-based app switcher a bit, stretching the track for the slider to fill the full width of your screen and expanding app previews to be a lot bigger.
Towards the end of 2016, Google introduced an API called App Preview Messaging. It debuted with Allo, where it lets you message anyone regardless of whether they have the app installed. They receive a preview message, handled by Google Play Services, which they can respond to as though they do have the app.
If you're looking for a decent alternative to Google Drive for cloud storage, you could do a lot worse than Microsoft's OneDrive. Most of us have an old Hotmail account knocking around somewhere anyway, so it's easy to set up and get 5GB free storage. The developers seem to pay attention to it, too, and they've just released a bit of a redesign on the beta channel for users to give feedback on.
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- The feature appears to be live for (almost) everyone now. We've tested it on several devices running the latest YouTube v12.32.60 and it showed up on all of them. It was also live on one device running an older v12.29.57, but we didn't see it on one tablet running the even older v12.19.56. Our theory is that it's been enabled with a server-side switch for everyone on any relatively recent YouTube version. Let us know if that's the case for you. Thanks, David Slawotsky!
Lately, YouTube has been pushing a ton of server-side changes to users. In just the span of a few weeks, the comments section has been tweaked, the bottom nav bar test returned, and expanded replies were improved upon. The video-sharing service isn't stopping there; today, it seems that YouTube has begun displaying to a few users little snapshots of the video you're watching when you seek through it.
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Google Home is good at a lot of stuff, but it's also missing some very basic features. After nearly a year on the market, this smart speaker still can't set a reminder. Maybe it'll be able to do that soon, though. There's a new preview program rolling out if you want to try the latest software updates a little early.
Google's Local Guides program for Google Maps has proven to be quite successful, with tons of people offering additional feedback and providing photos about various destinations. Part of this is due to the rewards that Google gives to Local Guides; for instance, Google is currently offering me three months of free Play Music and 75% off a movie rental. The latest reward is kind of a double whammy for Google - an opportunity to preview new Google Maps features before the public does.
ZTE managed to get Android 7.1.1 rolled out to the Azon 7 a few weeks ago, making it one of the few phones to have the latest build of Android. Now, it's the Axon 7 Mini's turn. Well... sort of. ZTE is starting up a preview program for the Nougat update, but not everyone will get access.
Google Calendar covers most of the basics for synced calendar users, but anyone who wants something more robust needs to go on a bit of a hunt. Titanium Track, the indie developer team behind the power user favorite Titanium Backup, is on the job. Their latest project is EvGenie, an advanced calendar designed for seamless backup across multiple devices and sharing with family members or coworkers. It's currently on the Play Store in an open preview. It's free to download.
Not too long ago, Google began offering users the chance to test unfinished Chromecast firmware. The first preview firmware, version 1.21.72444, began rolling out to users recently. Google's release notes for the update only state, "General bug fixes and stability improvements." Really helpful, Google.
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- We've heard through several sources and have confirmed independently that this is not caused by a random glitch but by code that was added to WhatsApp with the specific purpose of blocking of Telegram links. The smoking gun is a pattern match performed on any URL string that begins with the word 'telegram.' In the most recent version of the app, these strings are classified as a "bad host," so that no hyperlink is generated and it becomes impossible to copy or forward any message with that URL. No other strings trigger the match, so this block is purposefully targeted at Telegram.
Honest companies are expected to retain their users by offering the best service they can provide and not by actively locking them in and making it hard to switch to a competitor. Google, for example, lets users easily download all their contacts, bookmarks, photos, emails, and other personal data though Google Takeout. From there, anyone is free to close their account and move to a competing service, no questions asked. There are certainly companies that don't behave this way, but this is usually viewed with disapproving eyes — particularly when the company in question is already the biggest player on the market.