News and notes on the latest from Google.
Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) is slow, buggy, and doesn’t even work natively on Mac or Linux. Following this simple guide, you can copy files from your device quickly, easily, and painlessly all through your device’s shell via ADB file transfer, avoiding MTP entirely.
Continue reading “ADB File Transfer: The best way to manage your files”
Each year, millions of Google loyalists expectantly await the release of their smartphone’s new mobile operating system. And every time, changes take a little getting used to, but ultimately improve both battery life and productivity. Usually, there’s even an element to aesthetic updates which heighten the excitement of the general masses. But in the year 2017, Android fans may be a little disappointed.
Continue reading “Opinion: Android O is just Nougat with sprinkles”
Google’s SafetyNet is an API available for developers, to protect device security and provide a health check of the device to an app. An app can then refuse to run if the device health check fails, or disable features. An app known for doing this is Pokemon Go. This was one of the first apps which actively refused to run on a device that has been unlocked or tampered with. A simple API for developers to implement, huge ramifications for the end-user. The intention of SafetyNet is to provide a protection for the end-user and the IP of a company or to prevent cheating in games, but invariably hurts the end-user and, it can be argued, causes more problems than it solves.
Continue reading “SafetyNet: What is it, and why doesn’t Android Pay work without it?”
Today, Google has gone ahead and lifted the curtains on the next version of Android—Android O. Following Android N’s pre-Google I/O release, we all new Android O was due sooner or later. Of course, it doesn’t have a name yet, and we’ll probably have to wait until Q3 of this year when the final release is made public to know.
Continue reading “Google announces Android O; developer previews now available”
Today Google announced that the Google Assistant, previously exclusive to the Pixel, will now make its way onto all Android devices running Marshmallow or Nougat. It was bound to happen.
Continue reading “Google Assistant is coming to all devices running Android 6.0 and above”
As a dear Nexus 6 owner myself, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the Android 7.1.1 update for the past month. The Nexus 6, released in 2014, has consistently been delayed its updates. Now, Google has finally gone ahead and posted the Nexus 6 images and OTA files for flashing.
Continue reading “Google finally posts Android 7.1.1 image and OTA files for the Nexus 6”
While you’ve probably have heard of Android Auto, most of you most likely haven’t ever used it, as it has a limited reach. Today, an update to the Auto app now lets Android Auto work in any car.
RCS (Rich Communication Services) is intended to replace the use of SMS/MMS. Unfortunately, moving millions of people is no small feat.
Continue reading “Google makes RCS support in Messenger official, still a mess in the US”
The Google Pixel’s fingerprint action, namely called “Moves,” allows you to swipe down on the fingerprint sensor to drop down the notification bar. Unfortunately, Google’s made this exclusive to newly released phones only. However, there’s a nice little trick now available via an APK.
Continue reading “Here’s how to get the Pixel’s fingerprint gesture on non-Pixel devices”
Not too long ago, Google released their very own flagships, the Pixel and Pixel XL. Right out of the box, they run the latest software, Android 7.1 Nougat, which is exclusive to just the Pixel phones at the moment but also available as a developer preview for the Nexus 6P and 5X. Let’s take a look at the five major features of Android 7.1.
