News and notes on the latest from Google.
Fragmentation is a real problem in the Android world, and devices don’t get updated with the latest security patches regularly. This seems to be changing soon, at least for “popular” devices. Internal documents obtained by The Verge show that Google has mandated that OEMs provide at least 2 years of security updates for certain devices.
Continue reading “Popular Android phones will now have to provide two years of security updates”
Google was greeted by the European Union with a hefty fine back in July due to allegations of using its dominant position in search to exploit other competitors in the search industry. Following the ruling and to avoid future fines like this in the EU, Google is setting in motion a restructuring that could potentially mean more expensive phones for consumers in the EU.
Continue reading “Android, Chrome, and Search splitting up in Europe to comply with regulations”
Android—and any OS for that matter—would be nowhere near as popular as it is without the great support of the many developers making apps for the market. However, Android developers are now claiming that Google’s behavior and policies for making apps are “ridiculously unsustainable.”
The Google Home Mini now has a new color. It’s a shade of aqua blue, and it is made from the same fabric as the Mini’s original colors—chalk, charcoal and coral.
Continue reading “Google Home Mini now available in ‘Aqua Blue’ color”
Google has changed the name of its note-taking app “Keep” to “Keep Notes.” There are no aesthetic or design changes yet, but the name of the app has now changed. The web version still has Google Keep in its name though.
Continue reading “Google Keep app being renamed to ‘Keep Notes’”
Google has scheduled a launch event in NYC on October 9 to ‘unveil’ the Pixel 3 and 3 XL. However, according to MySmartPrice, another product called the “Google Home Hub” is also going to be announced. The Home Hub is a 7-inch Smart Display, which looks similar to the other smart displays such as Lenovo’s Smart Display.
Continue reading “‘Google Home Hub’ likely to launch on October 9 alongside the Pixel 3”
Google launched Inbox in 2014 as an experiment to try and change the way email was supposed to be used. A lot of new features were tested out inside the Inbox app and website, and a lot of them have now made their way to the bigger and more dominant Gmail. Google now thinks that Inbox has served its purpose, and is all set to retire, come March 2019.
Continue reading “Inbox by Gmail to be discontinued in March 2019”
Huawei and its sister company Honor have been having a choppy time with the custom ROM community lately. A while ago, they completely stopped users from unlocking their bootloaders. Now, they are disabling rooted devices from booting up.
Google Chrome is turning 10 years old, and it’s getting a shiny new revamp from head to toe. The dino game (the one that you play when there is no internet) is also getting a makeover!
Continue reading “Google Chrome turns 10 years old with v69, redesigned with Material Theme”
I recently purchased the Xiaomi Poco F1, and I intend to use this device for the long-term. I am not a big fan of MIUI, and I come from Nitrogen OS, which is a custom ROM. When Xiaomi decided to open up a sub-brand, everyone thought it would be like OnePlus—a sub-brand of Oppo which runs their own ROM, Oxygen OS, which is stock Android with certain added features on top. This was a given, considering how Xiaomi said it would focus on speed.
