In case you missed it, I published an article over on Android Authority earlier today that showed off some of the upcoming design changes on the Pixel Watch and Pixel Watch 2. These include Material You dynamic theming support and a new grid view app launcher. You should read that article for co...
2024-02-06 19:10:33 +0000 UTC View PostIf you didn't catch Samsung's launch of the Galaxy S24 series at Unpacked last week, Google announced a new feature called "Circle to Search". You just long press the home button or gesture nav handle to initiate the search overlay and then tap, scribble, or draw a circle around text or images on screen to search it with Google Lens.
The feature is available right now on the Galaxy S24 series (which only reviewers have access to), but Google confirmed it's coming to the Pixel 8 series s...
2024-01-22 20:57:20 +0000 UTC View PostIf you judge every new Android release by what Google's marketing or your OEM's update changelog tells you, then you'll probably be disappointed by how few new features there seem to be. In my experience, every new Android release has a ton of new features and changes that never get talked about. I'm still discovering new changes myself, such as a feature that promises to reduce system resource use (and thus improve memory use/battery life) of preinstalled apps.
Starting in Android 14, ...
2024-01-02 23:39:21 +0000 UTC View Post
Happy New Year! Hope y'all had a wonderful break. I've had a lot of time to unwind and relax with family and friends, but I'm ready to kick things into high gear once again. I have quite a big backlog of content to get through, and this first one just happens to be perfectly timed since the new bootup requirement just went into effect the other day.
What is the new bootup requirement? New devices launching this year are required to use Android's new bootup co-branding 2024-01-02 21:14:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Earlier today, I published an article about a feature I've been waiting a long time for: Google Photos integration in Android's Photo Picker. If you haven't read that article yet, I highly recommend you do so for context.
Normally, I don't share my methods for activating these feature...
2023-12-16 00:35:50 +0000 UTC View Post
In case you missed it, I just made a post about the latest Niagara Launcher beta release which adds a neat feature called Anycon. You can read my post about it on Twitter, Telegram, Threads, or 2023-11-14 18:42:26 +0000 UTC View Post
Y'all, it's real. The Pixel 8 series actually DOES support display output, and here's video proof that it does (thanks to Micha Lechner AKA @mile_freak07 for testing and sharing this video!)
How did Micha get it to work? He used the exact same method I suggested nearly two weeks ago; the same method...
2023-10-15 16:24:36 +0000 UTC View Post
The Pixel 8's generative AI wallpaper app lets you create brand new wallpapers that nobody else has ever seen just by choosing a few topics and colors from some preset options. While you can’t go wild with custom prompts, you still have a ton of choice!
After you create and apply a wallpaper, it’s saved to your device so you can change to it at any time. You can also tap the pencil icon to ...
2023-10-04 16:21:13 +0000 UTC View Post
After reading the headline, I know what some of you are probably already thinking: "Mishaal is crazy! Android already has a native PDF viewer app!" It might seem silly, but Android actually can't natively open PDF files. If you boot up a vanilla build of Android from AOSP and try to open a PDF, nothing happens. That's because, while AOSP does support rendering PDFs, it doesn'...
2023-09-27 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
The vast majority of the Android apps you use on a day-to-day basis are either architecture agnostic or are explicitly compatible with 64-bit CPUs. Apps that don't support 64-bit CPUs are scarce nowadays, thanks to Google Play mandating back in 2019 that apps with native code include 64-bit libraries.
However, Google couldn't immediately phase out 32-bit app support in Android, because some 32-bit apps were still widely used in heavily populated markets like China. The top Chinese...
2023-09-21 15:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
While I personally only use a single phone line when I'm not traveling*, I know many people use two (or more) lines on a daily basis. Some keep multiple lines so they can have one for personal contacts and one for work contacts, while others do it because they can save money by mixing and matching plans from different carriers. Juggling multiple lines can be a challenge, but fortunately, Android lets you choose which SIM to use as the default for calls, texts, and data. Because of hardware li...
2023-09-18 15:30:00 +0000 UTC View PostBy now, I'm sure you're aware that the Android operating system running on your phone is based on open source code provided by Google. The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) comprises the core OS framework, libraries, apps, and other files necessary to boot the Android OS on mobile phones and other devices with compatible hardware. The majority of AOSP code is licensed under Apache 2.0, a permissive license that allows anyone to freely use, distribute, and modify the code.
2023-09-14 15:00:20 +0000 UTC
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While there are many Android phones with exceptional camera setups that in many ways outperform the iPhone, to get the best image quality out of them, you have to use the stock camera app. Many users snap photos through third-party apps like Instagram or Snapchat, however, which are unable to tap into many of the same post-processing algorithms that are made available to the stock camera app. That's why for years, photos shared by iPhone users on apps like Instagram or Snapchat have generally...
2023-09-13 17:39:46 +0000 UTC View Post
As I explained earlier today, biometric authentication methods are classified into three tiers: Class 3 (formerly Strong), Class 2 (formerly Weak), or Class 1 (formerly Convenience). While all 3 can be used to unlock a device, only Class 3 and Class 2 biometrics can integrate with BiometricPrompt (ie. authenticate within apps). Class 2, however, cannot integrate with the keystore.
These ...
2023-08-28 21:09:53 +0000 UTC View Post
Getting Google Assistant to do something can be a chore when it struggles to recognize your voice, but it's also annoying that you have to say "Hey, Google" to get the Assistant's attention nearly every time you want to do something. If you have a Nest Hub Max, you can use the "quick phrases" feature to skip saying "Hey, Google" for many basic tasks. Quick phrases are also available on the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 series, but you're limited to just snoozing/dismissing alarms or timers as well as a...
2023-08-24 18:05:17 +0000 UTC View PostRaise your hand if you've ever done this: You took a screenshot of a webpage to send to a friend or colleague but you didn't also send the link along with it. Maybe you wanted to only show them a snippet from the page, so a screenshot was the quickest way to share that information. Whatever the case may be, they ask you for the link so they can read the full post or share it with others. Instead of choosing whether to share a screenshot of a web page or the URL to that page, Android 14 is pre...
2023-08-22 17:12:44 +0000 UTC View Post
Most TVs that run Android TV/Google TV let you connect a pair of Bluetooth headphones so you can watch your favorite content without disturbing others. If you want to do the opposite, that is, use your TV as a pair of Bluetooth speakers for your phone or other Bluetooth-enabled device, then you're probably out of luck. That's because, with some exceptions, most Android TV/Google TV devices don't support actin...
2023-08-17 17:51:25 +0000 UTC View Post
Android's taskbar for large screen devices debuted in Android 12L, but its current UI and functionality has changed significantly since then. For starters, the initial release of Android 13 brought an app drawer and context-menu support to the taskbar. Then in Android 13 QPR2, Google made the taskbar transient so it's hidden by default until the user swipes up. Continuing this trend, Google is preparing several major changes to the taskbar in Android 14, which I'll highlight below.
Firs...
2023-08-14 18:13:10 +0000 UTC View Post
One of the features pioneered by Meta's Messenger app for Android is the chat head. Chat heads were floating windows that allowed users to send messages to their favorite contacts from any screen. Seeing the popularity of this feature as well as the growing use of the System Alert Window API upon which it relied on, Google introduced the Bubbles API as a purpose-built platform alternative, first as a developer preview in Android 10 and later available for all in Android 11.
Since its in...
2023-08-11 20:00:59 +0000 UTC View Post
It's going to take a while for everyone to switch over to passkeys, so in the meantime, we still have to contend with the fact that a lot of people use weak passwords and insecure two-factor authentication mechanisms like SMS authentication. While we should nudge people into using a 2FA method that's more secure than SMS, we should also be aware that without this method, many people may not enable 2FA at all!
Regardless, one of the downsides of SMS 2FA that many users may not be aware o...
2023-08-11 18:53:02 +0000 UTC View PostFoldable phones are continuing to become more and more popular, and with each new generation, they're getting more and more accessible. Flip style foldables like the Motorola Razr+ and Galaxy Z Flip 5 are sold for just under $1,000, while book style foldables are starting to creep towards that territory (the Tecno Phantom V Fold sells for around $1,100).
As foldable devices become more mainstream, it's important that none of them catastrophically fail in the hands of their users, tarnis...
2023-08-10 15:32:26 +0000 UTC View PostWhen will Android 14 be released? I've gotten this question a LOT from users over the last few months, but it's something I've avoided answering because I didn't want to give out a date that later ended up being wrong.
So as long as you take this date I'm about to share with a pinch of salt, here's when I expect Android 14 to be released: Tuesday, September 5th, 2023. This date was chosen many many months ago, but Google is known to shift dates around a bit when it comes to Android DP/B...
2023-08-08 23:24:22 +0000 UTC View PostGoogle introduces new Mainline modules with each Android release, and of course Android 15 "Vanilla Ice Cream" will be no different. The company is working on a new Mainline module called "RemoteAuth[entication]", but it's unclear exactly what it will be used for. Here's what I know so far.
A couple of code changes related to RemoteAuth have recently appeared in the AOSP Gerrit (sometimes ...
2023-08-08 23:06:37 +0000 UTC View Post