News and notes on the latest from Google.
Despite being an Apple product, Apple Music has started to integrate with Android much better now. It has partial Google Assistant integration and they previously made it work with Android Auto. Although Android tablets aren’t all that popular anymore, Apple Music will now support them.
Continue reading “Apple Music beta v2.7 adds tablet support and a bottom navigation bar”
Google Photos can store all your photos in full resolution in the cloud. It can end up using a lot of data if you’re not careful, though. Currently, it lets you pick between two backup modes: original quality and high quality. However, for Indian users, Google will roll out a new backup mode called “express.”
Continue reading “Google Photos will get a new express backup mode to limit data usage”
#Techtober is finally over and in comes November. It’s time for another round of Google’s monthly security updates.
Continue reading “[Update: 2016 Pixel] November patches for Pixel/Nexus devices now rolling out”
Android Pie hasn’t even made a dent in Android’s distribution numbers despite Google, Essential, and OnePlus being the first manufacturers to offer it. Google and Essential rolled out very close-to-stock versions of Android Pie, but OnePlus changed a bit of the UI and added some of their own additional features. Did OnePlus make this release of Pie better than Google? Or did they eat our Pie just as they had eaten our Oreo? Let’s find out.
Continue reading “Stock Android 9 Pie vs. OxygenOS Pie comparison: Which is better?”
The share menu on Android has always been a nightmare. With every Android update, including Pie, there’s been no major change. It takes time to load, it’s bloated with apps, and is one of the most inconsistent experiences on Android to date. Finally, Google is working on a redesign.
Continue reading “Android’s sharing menu will finally be redesigned and be much faster”
Just last week, the first consumer-oriented foldable phone was announced by Royole Corporation, and exactly as was predicted, Samsung announced their vision of the foldable phone today.
Continue reading “Samsung’s foldable phone is here but not yet”
Today, at the Android Dev Summit, Google unveiled a new API, aptly named “In-app updates API,” which can be used by developers to update their apps while they are running.
Continue reading “Google unveils “In-app updates API” to bring faster and more seamless app updates”
Android, the operating system that runs on 88% of all smartphones today has turned eleven years old. Today marks the 11th anniversary of the first Android beta to the public. A week later, the SDK and a ton of information about the OS came out.
With Google’s recent Play Store policy mandating that all new apps published to the Play Store and all app updates target at least Android 8.0, I’m curious as to how many of the apps installed on your primary device target an older Android version (or API). To find out, there’s a nifty app on the Play Store that lets you do so.
Continue reading “Weekend Poll: What percentage of your apps target an older version of Android?”
The rumor mill surrounding us getting “foldable smartphones” has never been more prominent than today. Smartphones in 2018 are fast, powerful and have an almost edge to edge displays that make us think that we are living in the future. So naturally, we think to ourselves, after we are able to get pure, edge to edge notch-less displays, what comes next? You are right. Foldable smartphones.
Continue reading “The first foldable smartphone is here — and it’s exactly what we expected”
