OnePlus and OPPO are integrating Microsoft's Link to Windows app into OxygenOS 14/ColorOS 14!
At ODC23 (OPPO Developer Conference 2023), the company announced (via @realMlgmXyysd) it would bring Phone Link integration to ColorOS 14. OnePlus followed up with a post on its community forums announcing the same.
Currently, you have to download the "Link to Windows" app from Google Play to use Microsoft's Android <--> Windows cross-device features, but this app is seemingly going to be bundled into the Android 14 release from OnePlus and OPPO.
Besides making it easier to set up, bundling Link to Windows also enables additional features, like "Phone screen" (screen mirroring), "Apps" (mirroring individual or multiple apps), and "Instant Hotspot" (connecting to your phone's mobile hotspot from your PC's WiFi menu).
Fun fact: Qualcomm's fork of Android 14 actually added a bunch of code to more tightly integrate Phone Link into the OS.
At ODC23 (OPPO Developer Conference 2023), the company announced (via @realMlgmXyysd) it would bring Phone Link integration to ColorOS 14. OnePlus followed up with a post on its community forums announcing the same.
Currently, you have to download the "Link to Windows" app from Google Play to use Microsoft's Android <--> Windows cross-device features, but this app is seemingly going to be bundled into the Android 14 release from OnePlus and OPPO.
Besides making it easier to set up, bundling Link to Windows also enables additional features, like "Phone screen" (screen mirroring), "Apps" (mirroring individual or multiple apps), and "Instant Hotspot" (connecting to your phone's mobile hotspot from your PC's WiFi menu).
Fun fact: Qualcomm's fork of Android 14 actually added a bunch of code to more tightly integrate Phone Link into the OS.
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Mishaal's Android News Feed
Apple announces that RCS support is coming to iPhone next year Later next year, we will be adding support for RCS Universal Profile, the standard as currently published by the GSM Association. We believe RCS Universal Profile will offer a better interoperability…
Apple confirms RCS messages will have green bubbles
Apple has confirmed to me that blue bubbles will still be used to represent iMessages, while green bubbles will represent RCS messages.
9to5Mac
What color bubbles will RCS messages be? Here's Apple's answer - 9to5Mac
Earlier today, Apple announced its plans to bring RCS support to the iPhone in 2024. Since I published my story...
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Here's how Google sped up OTA update installations in Android 14 QPR2 Beta 1.
Artem Russakovskii (founder of Android Police and APK Mirror) asked his contacts at Google what optimizations were made, and according to what he was told, there were three primary improvements. These include:
Artem Russakovskii (founder of Android Police and APK Mirror) asked his contacts at Google what optimizations were made, and according to what he was told, there were three primary improvements. These include:
1. Android now parallelizes compression operations. OTA installs require individually compressing thousands of small blocks. This resulted in a 26% reduction in install time in Google's tests.
2. Android now batches operations of those small blocks. For example, instead of issuing 200 4KB writes, it issues one write of 800KB. This was a 24% reduction in install time in Google's tests.
3. Google switched the Pixels (Pixel 7 series, Pixel 8 series, Pixel Tablet, and Pixel Fold) to use LZ4 compression instead of GZ. This resulted in a 50% decrease in install time.
1. and 2. are general AOSP improvements so everyone will benefit.
3. Compression algorithms are up to individual vendors, but Google has changed its guidance as its engineers found a better solution, so hopefully OEMs will adopt LZ4 compression in their products as well.🔥110👍29❤11🤡5⚡2😱2
Mishaal's Android News Feed
Messaging apps that are locked to specific devices are cringe. Mr. Cook, tear down this wall! In all seriousness, it's interesting to see solutions like Nothing Chat gain more traction, because I wonder just how Apple will respond. Before, it was just a couple…
Well, that didn't last long:
"Nothing Chats has already been pulled from Google Play over privacy issues" via The Verge
"Nothing Chats, the Sunbird-based iMessage app, is a privacy nightmare with unencrypted messages and images" via 9to5Google
Quote from Nothing on Twitter.
"Nothing Chats has already been pulled from Google Play over privacy issues" via The Verge
"Nothing Chats, the Sunbird-based iMessage app, is a privacy nightmare with unencrypted messages and images" via 9to5Google
We’ve removed the Nothing Chats beta from the Play store and will be delaying the launch until further notice to work with Sunbird to fix several bugs. We apologize for the delay and will do right by our users.
Quote from Nothing on Twitter.
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Over the weekend, I wrote about a feature I was really excited about: Native USB webcam support in Android 14.
After using it, though, I noticed the video quality is way worse than when using third-party webcam apps. My $1,000 Pixel 8 Pro has a much better camera than this.
For comparison, here's a still image of me using the Camo app by Reincubate to turn my Pixel 8 Pro into a webcam. And another still image from me using scrcpy's new camera mirroring feature to turn my Pixel 8 Pro into a webcam.
Android 14's USB webcam feature is very convenient, but it sadly doesn't seem to take full advantage of the amazing camera on your smartphone.
You can read more about my experience using Android 14's webcam feature in my latest article for Android Central. The article links to a YouTube playlist I made that shows how dramatic the difference in quality really is.
(And yes, I did test across multiple devices and PCs, with different USB cables, and on different video conferencing platforms/apps. Yes, I did also stress test it to see if thermals would be a concern. All the details are in the article 😄)
After using it, though, I noticed the video quality is way worse than when using third-party webcam apps. My $1,000 Pixel 8 Pro has a much better camera than this.
For comparison, here's a still image of me using the Camo app by Reincubate to turn my Pixel 8 Pro into a webcam. And another still image from me using scrcpy's new camera mirroring feature to turn my Pixel 8 Pro into a webcam.
Android 14's USB webcam feature is very convenient, but it sadly doesn't seem to take full advantage of the amazing camera on your smartphone.
You can read more about my experience using Android 14's webcam feature in my latest article for Android Central. The article links to a YouTube playlist I made that shows how dramatic the difference in quality really is.
(And yes, I did test across multiple devices and PCs, with different USB cables, and on different video conferencing platforms/apps. Yes, I did also stress test it to see if thermals would be a concern. All the details are in the article 😄)
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This article made me curious about the status of the unwanted tracker detection specification, and it appears that work is indeed ongoing.
The latest message in the mailing list comes from an Apple employee dated Nov. 30, and ends with "I think we're close to getting the charter done done [sic]."
Google's unwanted tracker detection is based on a custom implementation rather than the draft specification, but Apple is seemingly waiting for the specification to be finalized before rolling out unwanted tracker detection on iOS.
Google in July said that they were "working in partnership with Apple to help finalize the joint unwanted tracker alert specification by the end of this year", so hopefully the specification is finalized this month.
However, I'm worried there's going to be a large gap between when the spec is finalized and when Apple actually rolls out unwanted tracker detection, further delaying the launch of Google's Find My Device Network.
(Hi y'all, yes, I am still alive. I was just on vacation for the past two weeks 😃)
The latest message in the mailing list comes from an Apple employee dated Nov. 30, and ends with "I think we're close to getting the charter done done [sic]."
Google's unwanted tracker detection is based on a custom implementation rather than the draft specification, but Apple is seemingly waiting for the specification to be finalized before rolling out unwanted tracker detection on iOS.
Google in July said that they were "working in partnership with Apple to help finalize the joint unwanted tracker alert specification by the end of this year", so hopefully the specification is finalized this month.
However, I'm worried there's going to be a large gap between when the spec is finalized and when Apple actually rolls out unwanted tracker detection, further delaying the launch of Google's Find My Device Network.
(Hi y'all, yes, I am still alive. I was just on vacation for the past two weeks 😃)
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Google has published the Android Security Bulletin (ASB) for December 2023, detailing the vulnerabilities addressed in the 2023-12-0X security patch level (SPL).
Patches are available for Android versions 11-14. There are 3 vulnerabilities in AOSP components with a "critical" severity rating.
As usual, there are also patches for vendor components listed in the ASB. Interestingly, there's one vulnerability (CVE-2023-45779) that affects "misc OEM" components. From what I know, details of this vulnerability will be made public later this month. (It's a pretty embarrassing one...)
Pixels should be receiving this update sometime this week along with the December 2023 Pixel Feature Drop, which will be based on Android 14 QPR1.
Patches are available for Android versions 11-14. There are 3 vulnerabilities in AOSP components with a "critical" severity rating.
As usual, there are also patches for vendor components listed in the ASB. Interestingly, there's one vulnerability (CVE-2023-45779) that affects "misc OEM" components. From what I know, details of this vulnerability will be made public later this month. (It's a pretty embarrassing one...)
Pixels should be receiving this update sometime this week along with the December 2023 Pixel Feature Drop, which will be based on Android 14 QPR1.
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The Pixel's December 2023 Feature Drop is rolling out today, and it brings a new feature I previously detailed called Repair Mode.
What is it and how does it work? Here's a first look at Repair Mode and an explanation of how it works under-the-hood.
What is it and how does it work? Here's a first look at Repair Mode and an explanation of how it works under-the-hood.
YouTube
First look at the Pixel's Repair Mode feature
Repair Mode is a new feature available on Pixel phones with the December 2023 Pixel Feature Drop. This feature simulates a factory reset (but doesn't actually wipe your phone) so you can send your phone in for repair and the technicians won't have access…
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This is a big moment for Google and Android. Google just announced Gemini 1.0, its latest LLM that takes on OpenAI's GPT4.
There are three different model sizes: Ultra, Pro, and Nano. Gemini Nano is optimized to run generative AI tasks on-device and is rolling out first to the Pixel 8 Pro. Gemini Nano powers the new Summarize in Recorder and Smart Reply in Gboard (which automatically suggests replies in WhatsApp) features, and will also power Assistant with Bard and other features in the future.
The Gemini Nano model is made available to the Pixel 8 Pro via an update to the AICore app I talked about before. AICore is a new system app in Android 14 that handles model updates, runtimes, safety features, and more.
AICore and Gemini Nano will be coming to more devices in the coming months. It takes advantage of ML hardware in silicon from Qualcomm, SLSI, and MediaTek.
If you want to build apps using Gemini Nano and AICore, Google is asking developers to sign up for their Early Access Program.
There are three different model sizes: Ultra, Pro, and Nano. Gemini Nano is optimized to run generative AI tasks on-device and is rolling out first to the Pixel 8 Pro. Gemini Nano powers the new Summarize in Recorder and Smart Reply in Gboard (which automatically suggests replies in WhatsApp) features, and will also power Assistant with Bard and other features in the future.
The Gemini Nano model is made available to the Pixel 8 Pro via an update to the AICore app I talked about before. AICore is a new system app in Android 14 that handles model updates, runtimes, safety features, and more.
AICore and Gemini Nano will be coming to more devices in the coming months. It takes advantage of ML hardware in silicon from Qualcomm, SLSI, and MediaTek.
If you want to build apps using Gemini Nano and AICore, Google is asking developers to sign up for their Early Access Program.
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The December 2023 Pixel Feature Drop update rolls out with Android 14 QPR1, bringing the USB webcam feature, Repair Mode, major GPU driver updates for Tensor Pixels that improve performance, plenty of bug fixes, and lots of other new features in Google apps as shown above.
The build ID is UQ1A.231205.01X and is available for the Pixel 5a and later.
The build ID is UQ1A.231205.01X and is available for the Pixel 5a and later.
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Mishaal's Android News Feed
This is a big moment for Google and Android. Google just announced Gemini 1.0, its latest LLM that takes on OpenAI's GPT4. There are three different model sizes: Ultra, Pro, and Nano. Gemini Nano is optimized to run generative AI tasks on-device and is rolling…
This Google Form says that Google is offering early access to "experimental Android APIs for running open source models on-device via new runtimes developed by Google."
That's in addition to the new Android APIs for running Google's Gemini Nano model on-device.
That's in addition to the new Android APIs for running Google's Gemini Nano model on-device.
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Among the many new features and improvements for Pixel phones, the December 2023 Pixel Feature Drop also brings several new features to the Pixel Watch and Pixel Watch 2!
- Call Screen is now available on Pixel Watch (both gens).
- Watch Unlock is now available as well for both gens.
- First-gen Pixel Watch now supports syncing DND and bedtime mode with your Pixel phone.
- First-gen Pixel Watch is getting new watch faces (Adventure and Analog Arcs) and updated complication styles (arcs and redesigned bulbs).
- Call Screen is now available on Pixel Watch (both gens).
- Watch Unlock is now available as well for both gens.
- First-gen Pixel Watch now supports syncing DND and bedtime mode with your Pixel phone.
- First-gen Pixel Watch is getting new watch faces (Adventure and Analog Arcs) and updated complication styles (arcs and redesigned bulbs).
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If you want to try the new Gboard Smart Reply feature on the Pixel 8 Pro, you need to go to Settings > Developer Options > AiCore Settings and toggle "Enable Aicore Persistent".
Then, open a WhatsApp conversation to see LLM-powered Smart Reply suggestions in Gboard's suggestion strip.
These suggestions are powered by Google's Gemini Nano model, which is rolling out to Pixel 8 Pro devices via an update to the AICore app, so if you don't see the new Smart Reply behavior yet, you may need to wait for the model to be downloaded in the background.
Google says this feature is currently available as a limited preview for US English in WhatsApp but that support for more apps is coming next year.
Then, open a WhatsApp conversation to see LLM-powered Smart Reply suggestions in Gboard's suggestion strip.
These suggestions are powered by Google's Gemini Nano model, which is rolling out to Pixel 8 Pro devices via an update to the AICore app, so if you don't see the new Smart Reply behavior yet, you may need to wait for the model to be downloaded in the background.
Google says this feature is currently available as a limited preview for US English in WhatsApp but that support for more apps is coming next year.
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