Alongside the new Nothing Ear (a) (which I'll share a review on soon!), Nothing also unveiled the Nothing OS 2.5.5 update for the Nothing Phone 2, which has already begun rolling out!
The update enables Nothing's "Ultra XDR" by default, which I can confirm is based on Google's Ultra HDR, as well as other new features such as:
* A new Quick Setting tile to change the ringer mode
* Ability to change the voice assistant that launches when you squeeze the Nothing Ear (a) to ChatGPT
* Ability to enable zRAM up to 8GB ("RAM Booster")
* New widgets to quickly start ChatGPT in text/voice/image query mode, start a quick recording in the Recorder app, and see the battery level of connected devices
* Ability to quickly paste text/images from the clipboard into ChatGPT. You'll see an "a|" button in the clipboard overlay that you can tap to open the ChatGPT app with your clipboard content preloaded.
Lastly, there's also new switches to toggle HDR for Photo and Portrait modes, a Glyph Interface Debug Mode, and lots of bug fixes.
The update enables Nothing's "Ultra XDR" by default, which I can confirm is based on Google's Ultra HDR, as well as other new features such as:
* A new Quick Setting tile to change the ringer mode
* Ability to change the voice assistant that launches when you squeeze the Nothing Ear (a) to ChatGPT
* Ability to enable zRAM up to 8GB ("RAM Booster")
* New widgets to quickly start ChatGPT in text/voice/image query mode, start a quick recording in the Recorder app, and see the battery level of connected devices
* Ability to quickly paste text/images from the clipboard into ChatGPT. You'll see an "a|" button in the clipboard overlay that you can tap to open the ChatGPT app with your clipboard content preloaded.
Lastly, there's also new switches to toggle HDR for Photo and Portrait modes, a Glyph Interface Debug Mode, and lots of bug fixes.
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Mishaal's Android News Feed
Alongside the new Nothing Ear (a) (which I'll share a review on soon!), Nothing also unveiled the Nothing OS 2.5.5 update for the Nothing Phone 2, which has already begun rolling out! The update enables Nothing's "Ultra XDR" by default, which I can confirm…
This is not limited to Nothing of course, but I wish companies would stop making up new names for their HDR image features. It's just confusing.
Google's developer docs for Ultra HDR even brings this up😅
Generally, the reason that different branding is used is because companies want to highlight their entire HDR pipeline, while Ultra HDR just refers to the image format. But still, seeing "ProXDR" versus "Super HDR" versus "Ultra XDR" tells me, the consumer, nothing.
(To be fair to OnePlus and their ProXDR branding, it did exist before Ultra HDR was announced.)
Google's developer docs for Ultra HDR even brings this up😅
Generally, the reason that different branding is used is because companies want to highlight their entire HDR pipeline, while Ultra HDR just refers to the image format. But still, seeing "ProXDR" versus "Super HDR" versus "Ultra XDR" tells me, the consumer, nothing.
(To be fair to OnePlus and their ProXDR branding, it did exist before Ultra HDR was announced.)
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Meta has announced that they're opening up its AOSP-based Horizon OS platform (the company's mixed reality OS that powers the Meta Quest devices) to third-party hardware makers.
Very interesting announcement from Meta, given that we'll likely see the launch of the new Android Glasses SDK plus the new Android XR OS at I/O next month.
Very interesting announcement from Meta, given that we'll likely see the launch of the new Android Glasses SDK plus the new Android XR OS at I/O next month.
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Android 15 will make it easier to deal with notification clutter by hiding unused notification channels by default!
With this change, the Settings app now only shows me 3 channels from Instagram instead of 25.
More details in my latest article for Android Authority.
With this change, the Settings app now only shows me 3 channels from Instagram instead of 25.
More details in my latest article for Android Authority.
Android Authority
Android 15 will make it easier to deal with notification clutter
Android 15 will hide unused notification channels by default, making it easier to manage notifications from apps with lots of channels.
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Android 15 Beta 1.1 is rolling out now with a fix for NFC! Contactless payments and other features that rely on NFC should now work. The update does NOT revert the NFC Mainline changes that I mentioned previously, but it fixes the botched migration.
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Do you often forget to turn off extra dim in the morning?
Android 15 is preparing a new "even dimmer" display option that'll let adaptive brightness automatically go even dimmer, basically extra dim but adaptive to ambient lighting!
More details can be found in my latest article for Android Authority.
Android 15 is preparing a new "even dimmer" display option that'll let adaptive brightness automatically go even dimmer, basically extra dim but adaptive to ambient lighting!
More details can be found in my latest article for Android Authority.
Android Authority
Android 15 may make it even easier to use your phone while in bed
Android 15 is preparing an “even dimmer” display option that allows the display brightness to go dimmer than normal.
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Android 15 is preparing to add built-in screen share protections that could help protect users from oversharing sensitive content while screen recording/sharing.
More details in my latest article for Android Police.
More details in my latest article for Android Police.
Android Police
Android 15 could stop you from leaking sensitive content while screen sharing
Android 15 is preparing to add built-in screen sharing protections that could stop you from leaking sensitive content
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Android 15 may make it even harder for sideloaded apps to get sensitive permissions
Google is finally preparing to close a loophole in a security feature they introduced in Android 13. Before you get upset at the title, read the whole article I wrote over on Android Authority.
Google is finally preparing to close a loophole in a security feature they introduced in Android 13. Before you get upset at the title, read the whole article I wrote over on Android Authority.
Android Authority
Android 15 may make it even harder for sideloaded apps to get sensitive permissions
Android 15 could introduce a new Enhanced Confirmation Mode that makes it harder for malicious apps to get sensitive permissions.
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I'm back with yet another early first look at an upcoming Android 15 feature: audio sharing.
Audio sharing utilizes Auracast, a feature of the Bluetooth LE Audio standard, to stream audio from your phone to two or more nearby devices!
Full details are available in my hands-on article for Android Authority.
Audio sharing utilizes Auracast, a feature of the Bluetooth LE Audio standard, to stream audio from your phone to two or more nearby devices!
Full details are available in my hands-on article for Android Authority.
Android Authority
Here's a first look at Bluetooth audio sharing in Android 15
Android 15 is adding an audio sharing feature that lets you listen in or start broadcasting audio, and we have an early look at the feature.
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Google has just published the I/O 2024 schedule!
Though I think I've done an amazing job at documenting Android 15 this year, Google always seems to pull an announcement or two out of their hat that surprises me.
Looking forward to finding out what that is! I've heard some stuff about Wear OS 5 and future Android TV versions that I'm not super confident about reporting yet, so I've held off for now. I hope this information gets confirmed at I/O, though!
Though I think I've done an amazing job at documenting Android 15 this year, Google always seems to pull an announcement or two out of their hat that surprises me.
Looking forward to finding out what that is! I've heard some stuff about Wear OS 5 and future Android TV versions that I'm not super confident about reporting yet, so I've held off for now. I hope this information gets confirmed at I/O, though!
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Android 15 is preparing to add a new feature that makes all apps go dark, even if they don't have a dark theme. This feature can even force apps like Fitbit to go dark!
For more details plus a BUNCH of screenshots, read my latest article over on Android Authority.
For more details plus a BUNCH of screenshots, read my latest article over on Android Authority.
Android Authority
Android 15 will let you force apps to go dark, even if they don't support it
Android 15 may introduce a new “make all apps dark” feature that forces apps that don't have a dark theme to go dark.
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If you're bothered by the Pixel Launcher truncating app names in the apps list and in search results, then you may appreciate this upcoming change: a new toggle to "show long app names" is coming!
Details + screenshots can be found in my article over on Android Authority.
Details + screenshots can be found in my article over on Android Authority.
Android Authority
Pixel Launcher will soon let you choose whether to truncate app names
Instead of always truncating app names, Android 15 could introduce a new toggle to “show long app names” in the Pixel Launcher.
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Android 15's new notification cooldown feature can not only lower the volume when you get successive notifications from the same app, but it'll soon also stop those same notifications from vibrating your phone like crazy!
More details are available in my latest article on Android Authority.
More details are available in my latest article on Android Authority.
Android Authority
Android 15 could stop your phone from vibrating like crazy when you get a lot of notifications
Notification cooldown in Android 15 can not only lower the volume of successive notifications but also stop them from vibrating your phone.
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For some reason, you can't use Circle to Search while in split-screen mode on Pixel phones, even though you can on Samsung phones.
Google is looking to fix that limitation, though. More details can be found in this article I wrote for Android Authority.
By the way, in case you were wondering why you have to set the Google App as the default digital assistant in order for Circle to Search work, this article also explains that.
Google is looking to fix that limitation, though. More details can be found in this article I wrote for Android Authority.
By the way, in case you were wondering why you have to set the Google App as the default digital assistant in order for Circle to Search work, this article also explains that.
Android Authority
You'll soon be able to use Circle to Search in Android's split-screen mode
Google is testing an update to the Pixel Launcher that enables Circle to Search to work in split-screen mode.
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Google is testing a lock screen change in Android 15 that has me thinking of Live Activities in iOS: Moving the At a Glance widget to the bottom!
More details plus screenshots can be found in this article I wrote.
More details plus screenshots can be found in this article I wrote.
Android Authority
Live Activities on Android? Android 15 tests lock screen change reminiscent of iOS
Google is testing a change in Android 15 that moves the At a Glance widget to the bottom of the lock screen.
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Here's a new feature in Android 15 that'll delight Wear OS users:
Android 15 is adding support for letting your smartwatch control your phone's media output!
Read my article for more details.
Android 15 is adding support for letting your smartwatch control your phone's media output!
Read my article for more details.
Android Authority
Android 15 could let your Pixel Watch control your phone's media output
Android 15 could add a new feature that lets users change the device their phone is outputting audio to right from their watch.
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