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Android 12 is getting serious about keeping clipboard snippets private
Almost exactly like the iOS 14 feature that landed last year
Among the other privacy-related tweaks in Android 12 is a new toast notification that will pop up when an app pulls content from your clipboard, that way you're aware when it happens. This might sound superfluous, but think back: When was the last time you copied a password or someone's phone number?
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We're all excited for the new design coming with Android 12, but Google's also implementing a ton of changes under the hood as well. User safety is more important than ever these days, and the new Privacy Dashboard should help keep you informed about where and when your data is being accessed. Google is also adding a new toast message any time an app accesses copied text, though it's not active in Android just yet.
Android 12 DP3's dark mode improvements will further protect your eyes from burning whites
Dark toast messages and dark splash screens
Android 12 Developer Preview 3 brought a whole slew of new design elements hinting that we're in for even more extensive changes in future pre-release versions. But Google is also working on eliminating smaller inconsistencies that should make the latest OS even more pleasant to use. It's introducing properly themed toast messages for dark mode, as first spotted by 9to5Google.
Google Photos adds text selection prompt on mobile and upload origin information on the web
Small but helpful additions to a great service
Google Photos is already a solid product and has only recently received a massive facelift that's still not rolling out widely. But there are always little things that can be improved upon, and recently, two have surfaced: The Photos app now shows you toasts that let you quickly copy texts from images while the web interface allows you to see where you've uploaded a given photo from.
With phones getting as expensive as they are, you'd have to be nuts not to get a case to protect your investment. A base model Pixel 2 is nearly $700 out the door, with the 128GB Pixel 2 XL going into four-figure territory. But even after you've made the decision to spend a few bucks on a case, you might be wondering which one in particular you should buy.This roundup will feature a wide variety of cases from several different manufacturers. We'll dive into the pros and cons of each case, then award it a letter grade for easier perusal. Also included will be reviews of whatever screen protectors we come across, as those are sure to be pertinent to the kind of person who's reading this in the first place.We plan to continuously update this post with new reviews as more cases come in. If there's a particular case you'd like to see reviewed, let us know in the comments section and we'll do our best to get one in for review. These are alphabetically listed for easier perusal; the order does not in any way reflect our preferences.
Recently, Google has notified developers of apps that use Accessibility features for purposes other than helping users with disabilities to cease using those APIs or otherwise unpublish their app. The impetus for this move appears to be existence of (now removed) apps in the Play Store which use Accessibility features in conjunction with a vulnerability patched as part of the September security update to install malware.
Those of you who are fans of darker themes on software won't be happy with this change we've discovered in the Android 8.1 Oreo developer preview: toast messages now have a lighter, inverted theme. This was likely done in order to match the rest of the much whiter user interface, which the gray toasts didn't really go with.