Google Duo will soon support group calls on the web, gets shareable invites and “Family” mode

With many people stuck at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, video calling has surged in popularity. What used to be a somewhat niche thing has become very common. Everyone from grandparents to toddlers suddenly has experience with video calls. Google Duo is one of the company’s more popular communication apps and it’s being used more than ever. The app recently expanded group sizes and now it’s getting even more features.

First up is a feature that directly competes with Zoom and Facebook Messenger: group video calls on the web. Google Duo now supports group calls with up to 12 people and it will eventually support up to 32. That will become much more useful on the extra real estate of a laptop or desktop with Duo on the web. The feature will start as a preview on Chrome in the coming weeks.

To coincide with the larger group calls, Google Duo is making it easier to invite people. Rather than choosing every contact one at a time when creating the group call, you’ll be able to send an invite link. Anyone with a Google account will be able to join via the link. We recently discovered this feature in an APK teardown.

Lastly, Google Duo is getting some fun features under a new “Family” mode. When in a video call, you can open the menu and tap “Family.” This mode hides the mute and end call buttons to prevent accidental touches from little fingers. It also adds a number of fun features like doodling, effects, and masks. The “Family” features are available for group and one-on-one calls.

Google Duo - High Quality Video Calls (Free, Google Play) →

---

Source: Google

The post Google Duo will soon support group calls on the web, gets shareable invites and “Family” mode appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2WGfE6S
via IFTTT

Here’s everything new and hidden in Android 11 Developer Preview 4

Google had announced the first Android 11 Developer Preview back in February, followed by Preview 2, Preview 3, and recently, Preview 4. As per the original plan, Google was supposed to release the first Android 11 Beta at Google I/O, but the schedule has changed a lot because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first Beta will now be revealed at an online event on June 3rd, 2020. Until then, we have the Android 11 Developer Preview 4 to keep us occupied. While there are no developer features highlighted in this release, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any changes of note in Preview 4. Here are the changes and new features that we have found while digging through the latest Developer Preview 4 on the Google Pixel 3a XL and Google Pixel 4.

All Android 11 News

New Features in Android 11 Developer Preview 4

1. Select button in the recent apps overview

Android 11 Developer Preview 3 revamped the recent apps overview by adding a “screenshot” and “share” button in place of the row of suggested apps. Now in Developer Preview 4, those two buttons are joined by a “select” button. Tapping this button highlights all selectable text and images.

You could already manually select text and images in the recent apps overview on Pixel devices since Android 9 Pie, but many users simply did not realize that this could be done or that it was a feature. This new “select” button just makes it more obvious to users that you can make a selection over here. However, we don’t know if this “select” button will be available in Android 11 for non-Pixel devices. Non-Pixel devices before Android 11 already do not have access to selectable text/images in the recent apps overview.

2. Picture-in-picture windows are now resizable!

In Android 11 Developer Preview 2, we discovered code hinting that Google will soon allow you to resize picture-in-picture windows. In Android 11 Developer Preview 3, we discovered that this feature moved closer to release as we were able to manually enable it using a feature flag. Now in Android 11 Developer Preview 4, this feature has been enabled by default for everyone.

Resized PiP window

To resize a picture-in-picture window, simply tap right outside one of the four corners and then drag inward or outward.

3. New Hexagon and Flower Icon Shapes in Pixel Themes

With the release of the Pixel 4, Google introduced the Pixel Themes app. Pixel Themes lets you customize some parts of the UI such as the font, accent color, icon shape, and icon fill from a number of pre-installed choices. Now in Developer Preview 4, Google has added two new icon shape options: Hexagon and Flower.

4. Wireless Debugging now has a Quick Setting tile

Android 11 adds support for quickly setting up ADB over WiFi. You can quickly set up wireless ADB by scanning a QR code or entering a 6 digit PIN. In Developer Preview 4, Google has added a Quick Setting tile that allows you to quickly toggle on/off wireless debugging. This will help keep your device secure by letting you turn off wireless debugging when you aren’t using it and to turn it on quickly when you do need it.

To enable the Wireless Debugging Quick Setting tile, you’ll have to go to Settings > Developer Options > Quick settings developer tiles.

5. Connected Preferences now links to Android Auto

In Settings > Connected devices > Connection preferences, there’s now a link to open Android Auto’s settings page. This is likely in preparation for the deprecation of the main Android Auto app in favor of Google Assistant’s long-awaited driving mode.

6. Notification counts are shown in the preview

If you have multiple notifications in the same conversation, you’ll now see a number next to the expand arrow that tells you how many messages you missed in that conversation. For example, in this screenshot, there are two messages from the same Hangouts conversation, so the notification had the number “2” in it.

---

In-Development Features

These features are present in Android 11 Developer Preview 4, but they are in various stages of completion and are not ready just yet. We can expect to see these features coming to us in future releases.

1. Remove apps from suggestion row in App Drawer

The Pixel Launcher contains an app suggestion row at the top, which suggests apps that you are likely to launch next based on your usage of those apps. While one could entirely switch off the row, in case you did not find it useful, there was no way to individually remove an app from being suggested. So if you had a single app that you prefer not showing up in the row, you had no option to do so. In Developer Preview 4, we enabled a development option that allows you to remove apps from the suggestion row by dragging them off the App Drawer and dropping them onto the “Don’t suggest app” option. Normally, this “don’t suggest app” option will show “uninstall.”

2. Hybrid Hotseat: Suggest replacement apps for missing positions in the app dock

The App Dock rests on the bottom of the home screen, and it acts as a fixed bar of apps visible across multiple home screens. The App Dock is filled up with five icons by default. If you remove an app from the dock, there will simply be an empty space in that spot.

With the Hybrid Hotseat feature enabled, however, when you remove an icon from the App Dock, the Pixel Launcher will suggest an app from the Suggestion row to take the empty spot. We had already discovered this feature in an APK teardown, and in Developer Preview 4, we managed to activate this feature.

3. New Controls Menu UI

One of Android 11’s key features is the Controls API, which will let developers put home automation shortcuts in the power menu. In earlier previews of Android 11, there was a “Quick Controls” section underneath the row of power menu items up top while the rest of the power menu is transparent.

Now in Android 11 Developer Preview 4, the power menu background is dark, including the power menu items up top. Furthermore, “Quick Controls” now says “Device Controls” and there’s a description text when it’s empty that says “Add controls for your connected devices”. When you add controls from a supported app, this text disappears to make room for your favorite controls. Overall, this feature looks more polished, and we could see Google publicly talk about it during the Android 11 beta 1 launch on June 3rd.

4. Preparation for “Schedules” settings

In Android 11 Developer Preview 3, we spotted evidence that Google is preparing a new “Schedules” settings page where you will be able to control all schedulable settings, such as Do Not Disturb mode, Night Light, dark mode, etc. Now in Android 11 Developer Preview 4, we managed to get the entry for this “Schedules” settings page to surface.

It’s available in Settings > System. However, currently, the fragment for “Schedules” does not exist in the SettingsGoogle app hence it crashes when we try to launch it.

5. Battery Share is now Reverse Charging

In Android 11 Developer Preview 1, we spotted an activity called “battery share” that suggests that Google is working on supporting reverse wireless charging for certain devices. Code analysis suggests this feature will be exclusive to “redfin”, which we presume to be one of the Pixel 5 devices powered by the Snapdragon 765 processor.

In Android 11 Developer Preview 4, Battery Share has been renamed to Reverse Charging. However, Google has removed many of the descriptive strings for the feature. They also made it so you can’t launch the settings page unless your device’s model name is “redfin”, confirming that the reverse wireless charging feature is indeed intended for that device.

We managed to surface the setting in Settings > Battery, but again, all of the text that should be there is missing currently.

6. Pixel Launcher is preparing a gestures tutorial

Google added full-screen gesture navigation in Android 10 but they have yet to implement a tutorial teaching users how to navigate with these gestures. In the latest Pixel Launcher release, we spotted a new activity that teaches users how to use gesture navigation.

7. Pixel Themes is preparing grid size customization for the Pixel Launcher

When we had first learned about the Pixel Themes app before the launch of the Pixel 4, we were able to surface a setting to change the grid size in the launcher. That feature never launched in the Pixel Themes app.

But in Android 11 Developer Preview 4, we managed to surface this menu in the Pixel Themes app. Once this feature is live, you’ll be able to choose from 5×5 (default), 4×4, 3×3, or 2×2 grid sizes.

8. Unified Hotspot & Tethering Settings

Finally, we enabled a feature flag that tweaks the UI for the “Hotspot & Tethering” settings. In the new UI, the Wi-Fi hotspot settings are on the same page as the toggles for USB tethering and Bluetooth tethering. Ethernet tethering, which was newly added to Android 11 Developer Preview 3, is currently missing in the new Hotspot & Tethering UI.

---

Removed Features in Android 11 Developer Preview 4

In Android 11 Developer Preview 4, Google has reverted these behavior changes so it is no longer possible to use these features.

Undo Recent Apps Dismissal Gesture and Dismissing Persistent Notifications

Android 11 Developer Preview 3 changed the system behavior in two key areas: recent apps and notifications. For recent apps, they made it possible to “undo” dismissing a recent app card by quickly swiping down anywhere on the screen after you dismissed the card. For notifications, they made it possible to hide persistent notifications using the same swipe left/right gesture used to dismiss standard notifications – this put persistent notifications into a new “apps active in background” area underneath the “history” button which made these notifications far less visible.

Both of these can no longer be achieved.

---

Bonus: Verizon Google Pixel 4a Confirmed

It wouldn’t be a Google software release without confirming upcoming hardware. This time, it’s the Google Pixel 4A, confirmed to be coming to Verizon in the USA.

OTAConfigPrebuilt in Android 11 DP 4 basically confirms Pixel 4a (sunfish) is launching on Verizon.

h/t @Cstark_27

We would expect Verizon to continue to sell Pixel devices, though there was a report back in February that cast doubt on that. That report was later retracted. pic.twitter.com/QyFHeygnmX

— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) May 6, 2020

 

---

That’s all that we could find yet in this release. Follow our Android 11 news tag to stay up-to-date on everything we’ve covered so far on the next Android OS release.

All Android 11 News

The post Here’s everything new and hidden in Android 11 Developer Preview 4 appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/3baK8Dq
via IFTTT

Custom Project Treble GSIs get updated with the May 2020 security patches and add DC Dimming support on OPPO devices

A bunch of Samsung devices started receiving the May 2020 security patches even before Google published the security bulletin for the month and rolled out corresponding OTA updates for the compatible Pixel devices. Even if you don’t have a Google Pixel phone or one of those Samsung flagships, you still have a chance to bump the Android security patch level (SPL) of your device by flashing an updated Generic System Image (GSI), provided the device itself is compliant with Project Treble and the bootloader is unlockable. In fact, XDA Recognized Developer phhusson, a well-known name in the third-party GSI development community, has recently updated his custom AOSP-based Project Treble GSI AKA Quack Phh-Treble with May 2020 security patches as well as several OEM-specific fixes.

Quack Phh-Treble — XDA Thread

As a quick refresher, the developer already added support for the double-tap to wake gesture on Xiaomi phones and Realme’s under-display fingerprint sensors since the last few builds of Quack Phh-Treble. Apart from the new security patches, the latest version (v216) of the custom GSI is now fully compatible with the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor on Samsung devices running Android 10. phhusson also incorporated several fixes related to Qualcomm’s vendor implementation which could lead to a higher camera recording resolution on the Snapdragon platform.

Regarding OEM-specific enhancements, the new build can now correctly recognize different parameters like battery stats and automatic brightness on some Nokia phones. On the other hand, DC Dimming should work on compatible OPPO devices on this custom GSI from now on. For those not familiar with the term, DC Dimming is an industry standard method of dimming the OLED panel to reduce the screen flickering under certain scenarios.

The complete changelog can be found below:

• May 2020 security patch
• Fix boot on Samsung Galaxy A30
• Fix long boot on Oreo vendor for Redmi 6A and Redmi 6
• Fix ultrasonic fingerprint sensor on Samsung Q vendor
• Fix recent buttons on FLOSS variant
• Fix flashlight on S10 Lite
• Fix double-tap-to-wake on Xiaomi Redmi Go
• New overlays (fixes battery stats, automatic brightness, …)
  • Nokia 6.1
  • Nokia 8.1/X7
• Developer-side:
  • Cleanup of IMS use in hardware overlays
  • Gives more changes for vendor media profile to work
• Treble settings:
  • Qualcomm devices: Add an option to use vendor media profiles. This may enable higher camera recording resolution.
  • Qualcomm devices: Add an option to use vendor audio policy. This may fix some audio issues, but might create some others.
  • Add an option to disable audio effects. This might fix some audio issues.
  • Oppo: Add an option to enable dc diming.
  • Invert logic for navbar: navbar is enabled by default, but can be disabled.

Download Quack Phh-Treble v216

Before flashing the custom GSI, you should determine your device variant using the Treble Info app linked below. The flashing process will require you to factory reset your device, so be sure you’re prepared to lose app data before you proceed. We suggest you opt for an off-device backup (such as on your PC or an SD Card), in case anything goes south.

Treble Info (Free⁺, Google Play) →

The post Custom Project Treble GSIs get updated with the May 2020 security patches and add DC Dimming support on OPPO devices appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2WGetnZ
via IFTTT

Sony’s latest wireless earbuds offer noise-cancelation and an IP55 rating

Sony is expanding its line of True Wireless (TWS) earbuds with the launch of the Sony WF-SP800N. These are the fifth addition to Sony’s true Wireless earbuds lineup. It’s a direct successor to the Sony WF-SP700N that came in 2018 and brings some notable upgrades to the table including water and dust protection, improved battery life, and better design.

Just like its predecessor, the Sony WF-SP800N earbuds are designed for sports lovers and Sony is pitching it as a perfect companion for your workouts and runs. The earbuds are IP55 certified for water, sweat, and dust resistance — a step up from IPX4 protection on the last-gen model. The device utilizes soft-cushioned arc stabilizers and curved design to give you a secure fit during workouts activities.

Digital noise cancellation is one of the main attractions of the Sony WF-SP700N, which allows you to filter out unwanted and distracting noise. You can use the companion app to further customize the noise-canceling based on your surroundings (home, work, outdoors) and even tweak the equalizer to your liking. The app even lets you create location-based profiles – for example, you can set it to automatically kick in the noise cancellation when you arrive at the office or gym.

The battery life is a strong point of the WF-SP800N. Sony claims up to 9 hours of continuous battery life with noise cancelation turned on (13 hours without NC). This can be further extended to 18 hours using the charging case (26 hours without NC). The case charges via USB-C (no wireless charging) and supports quick charging — a 10-minute charge is enough for 1 hour of music playback.

You also get Sony’s Quick Attention mode which turns down the music volume and amplifies the outside voices when you place a finger on one of the buds. Similar to other Sony headphones and earbuds, the WF-SP800N also offer touch controls to let you pause/skip/change tracks, answer calls, and summon Google Assistant with a simple tap.

Coming to the sound quality, the Sony WF-SP800N uses the same Bluetooth chip as the high-end WF-1000XM3 earbuds. However, the sound quality will likely not be as neutral and detailed since these earbuds are part of Sony’s Extra Bass lineup which is known for offering bass-driven sound. The earbuds only support basic Bluetooth codes such as SBC and AAC — no support for aptX, aptX HD, or LDAC.

Buy Sony WF-SP800N on Amazon

Available in three colors — Blue, Orange, Black — the Sony WF-SP800N retail for $200 and can be purchased directly from Sony or Amazon.

---

Source: The Verge

The post Sony’s latest wireless earbuds offer noise-cancelation and an IP55 rating appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/35GRk9j
via IFTTT

YouCam 9 Helps You Look Your Best on Video Calls and Livestreams

Working from home should mean you can forget about outward appearances and focus on being productive in your PJs. At least, that was the case until Zoom took off. Now we must all be ready for a video ambush. YouCam 9 Deluxe for Windows makes it easier to look the part on camera, with smart skin enhancement and hundreds of filters. Right now, you can pick up the software for $34.99 at the XDA Developers Depot.

If you have the kind of boss who constantly wants to “jump on a call”, you might want to invest in YouCam 9 Deluxe. This software acts like digital make-up, allowing you to appear well-groomed in a pinch and without putting in the effort—perfect if you’ve just rolled out of bed five minutes before your call.

On top of the cosmetic enhancements, YouCam also sports augmented reality effects, customized titles, and images that you can leverage in your calls to liven things up, whether you’re tuning in for your daily stand-up meeting or trying to impress a potential client remotely.

Rated as “Excellent” by Softpedia, YouCam 9 Deluxe works with most video calling apps — including Skype and Hangouts. You can also use YouCam for live streaming, with support for Facebook, Twitch, YouTube, and other major platforms.

It’s normally priced at $49.99, but you can get YouCam now for just $34.99.

 

YouCam 9 Deluxe for Windows: Lifetime Subscription – $34.99

See Deal

Prices subject to change 

More from the XDA Developers Depot

• Work-from-home accessories to keep you productive
• DIY projects to keep you entertained indoors
• New skills you can learn without leaving home

The post YouCam 9 Helps You Look Your Best on Video Calls and Livestreams appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/3dv2ekW
via IFTTT

Tasker 5.9.3.beta.5 helps you customize all the settings on your phone and automatically freeze apps

Tasker is the most popular automation app for Android and for good reason. The app allows you to create Profiles that automatically trigger based on certain conditions to execute Tasks and it offers a wide variety of plugins that can help you automate pretty much anything you can imagine. On top of that, the developer behind the app releases regular updates with support for even more new features. For instance, a recent beta release of the app introduced a new feature called “Contact Via App” that allows you to automate WhatsApp calls. Now, the app is getting another significant update in the beta channel which brings even more to the table.

XDA Tasker Tips & Tricks Forum

As per a recent post on Reddit, Tasker v5.9.3.beta.5 is now rolling out to users and it includes quite a few interesting new features. Here are some of the most noteworthy changes in the latest Tasker beta release:

Find All Custom Settings

Tasker v5.2 added custom setting support which allows you to modify values in your phone stored in the Settings.Global, Settings.Secure, and Settings.System tables if you grant Tasker the WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS (via ADB/root) and WRITE_SETTINGS (via system permissions page) permissions. While this is tremendously useful in automating the various settings on your device, it required users to find out what settings are available on their device by themselves, because every device/OEM software has different settings.

Up until now, the easiest way for users to find out what settings were available was to run the following 3 commands via ADB on their PC or in a rooted shell on their phone:

• settings list secure
• settings list global
• settings list system

Earlier this year, however, Tasker 5.9.2 beta added a new “ADB WiFi” option that lets you launch Tasker with ADB shell-like privileges. Thus allowing users to run ADB shell commands without first connecting their phones to their PC. To capitalize on this Tasker 5.9.3.beta.5 will internally run the aforementioned 3 commands to list all the available settings values.

Send WhatsApp Text Messages

As mentioned earlier, Tasker 5.9.3.beta.4 added a “Contact Via App” option to automate calls in WhatsApp and other messaging services. With the latest beta release, Tasker now also lets you automatically send a text message in WhatsApp. To get started, select the “Contact Via App” Action in a Task and then follow the instructions in the video below to set up automated texts for any contact on your device.

New ADB WiFi Helper Actions

Along with the aforementioned feature to find all custom settings, the ADB WiFi feature in Tasker now also offers support for more Actions. These include:

• Clearing an app’s data
• Freezing/unfreezing apps
• Taking a screenshot without user interaction
• Toggling SIM card on or off
• Uninstalling an app

Check out the video demo below to see how you can set up these Actions:

While these Actions were already possible in the previous version of Tasker, the app required you to know the right ADB commands (pm, screencap, svc, etc.) to perform them. With the latest update, Tasker now handles that for you. However, it’s worth noting that you’ll need to run a script on your PC to set up the feature and you will need to re-run this script on every boot of your phone.

Full Changelog

• Added option to send text when opening a Whatsapp Profile with the “Contact Via App” action
• The “Contact Via App” action will now show the normal Android System contact picker to select a contact if no app is selected
• Added option to back out of messaging window in the “Contact Via App” action when some text is sent
• Made both “Contact” and “App” fields in the “Contact Via App” action optional. If left blank will be asked when the task is ran.
• When you use the helper in the “Custom Setting” action and you have “ADB Wifi” enabled, you’ll get the real values from your device instead of the pre-baked-in ones from the developer so you’re more likely to find settings for your specific device
• Added “Clear App Data”, “Freeze/Unfreeze App”, “Take Screenshot”, “Toggle SIM Card” and “Uninstall App” to the ADB Wifi Helper
• Changed main Tasker notification when no profiles are active to show the total number of existing profiles
• When a variable’s value is an empty String it’ll now be considered a not set variable by Tasker in any condition in the app
• When importing a Task or Profile from Taskernet, Tasker will ask in which project you want to put the imported item
• Fixed using “eval(variable)” in Javascript actions where “variable” contains some Javascript code
• Made first visible index in “List Dialog” 0 by default so that the arrow of the selected item doesn’t show up by default
• Made clicking the text of an item in the “List Dialog” action in Multiple selection mode also check the checkbox
• Make dialog that shows up when exiting Tasker not dismissable
• When an online help file can’t be reached only offer to email support about it if user has a working internet connection
• Don’t allow new task names with the ‘%’ character in their names
• Fixed moving files in some situations
• Fixed “File Closed” event
• Added support for HTML in “List Dialog” action
• Made %evtprm(1) (file path) in “File Modified” event be url decoded so it can be used right away
• Fixed crash on startup in some situations
• Fixed using the “write” function in the “Keyboard” action in some special cases
• Added support for 5G in “Mobile Network Type” action
• Fixed minor bugs

Along with these new features, the latest Tasker beta update includes several other changes that you can see in the changelog section above. If you’re interested in trying out these features for yourself, you can enroll in the Tasker beta by following this link and then download the latest release from the Play Store link below. Alternatively, you can also download Tasker 5.9.3.beta.5 directly from the Dropbox link below.

Download Tasker v5.9.3.beta.5

Tasker ($3.49, Google Play) →

The post Tasker 5.9.3.beta.5 helps you customize all the settings on your phone and automatically freeze apps appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/3crHRVG
via IFTTT

POCO F2 Pro to be launched globally on May 12

Xiaomi’s sub-brand POCO stunned smartphone enthusiasts around the world with its first smartphone – the POCO/Pocophone F1. This barebones flagship killer appeased the users who demanded excellent performance while compromising on other things including display or charging. The XDA Forums for the device are abundant with custom ROMs, recoveries, and mods, thanks to the factor of affordability attached to the phone. But after launching the POCO F1 in 2018, the brand went into a limbo of nearly 18 months, and only resurfaced earlier in 2020 as an independent entity to launch the POCO X2 (review), which left the entire community dazed and yearning for the real POCO F1 successor. Now, after a seemingly endless wait, the POCO F1’s successor – the POCO F2 Pro – is finally launching on May 12th.

POCO Global took to Twitter to announce the launch of the POCO F2 Pro. The event on May 12th is likely targetted at the European consumers and will take place online citing restrictions and limitations due to COVID-19.

If you’re ready, let’s POCO!#POCOF2Pro online launch event on May 12. Stay tuned.#POCOisBACK #PowerfullyCool pic.twitter.com/XmcV8i5Yfn

— POCO (@POCOGlobal) May 8, 2020

Talking about the POCO F2 Pro, the phone has been on our radar almost since the POCO X2 launch. Sometime last week, the POCO F2 Pro was added to the list of Google Play certified devices. The phone, as per the listing, is a rebranded Redmi K30 Pro. This is interesting, although not very surprising since the Redmi K30 4G was also rebranded as the POCO X2. This evidence from the Google Play listing confirmed instances from the MIUI Camera app suggesting that Redmi K30 Pro may be rebranded as a POCO device.

Back in March, POCO India’s GM had reportedly asserted that the POCO F2 will not be a rebranded Redmi K30 Pro. That may be a different SKU but it’s not quite evident whether it will be another rebranded Xiaomi or Redmi phone or a new device altogether. Meanwhile, POCO might also launch another mid-ranger in India before the POCO F2 or F2 Pro and it could be called the POCO M2 Pro, which is likely to be a rebranded global Redmi Note 9 Pro (or the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max in India).

The post POCO F2 Pro to be launched globally on May 12 appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/3fxsehG
via IFTTT