Google Play Store tests search filters for ratings, “Editor’s Choice,” and “new” applications

If you are an app developer looking to focus on Android, the Google Play Store will be your topmost focus. And that isn’t remotely surprising — after all, developers have earned over $80 billion from the Play Store, and it is the biggest app market in the world. While the Apple App Store may be more lucrative, the Google Play Store presents itself as a lower bar of entry and a wider audience, which are two things that greatly benefit an app developer who is just starting out. However, because of the sheer number of apps on the platform, actually discovering an interesting new app is not an easy job for users, and by extension, getting your app noticed by users is equally difficult too. However, it seems Google does want to fix this issue in some way, as the Play Store is now testing search filters to help complement the Play Store’s lookup capabilities.

As spotted by 9to5Google, the Google Play Store is testing filters in search that can refine results. Currently, generic search terms can show up a few suggestion chips that can refine results by app features. The new tests will expand the filtering capabilities, allowing refinement by rating (either 4.0+ or 4.5+), by the existence of the “Editor’s Choice” badge from Google, and by “New”. All three of these new filters can be applied at the same time.

These new filters can really help a user narrow down the apps they want to try out — for instance, all highly rated options for a search term can be filtered out, so you can try out the options to see what suits you the best. Similarly, surfacing only new applications will make it easier for new publishers to reach an audience and gain feedback from them to improve their own app. Google Play search filters are not widely available yet and are rolling out via a server-side update, so they should be arriving on your phone automatically in the next few days.

The Play Store has been receiving several changes that make it better at serving as the app store for the masses. The Store recently received a dark theme toggle for most Android versions. It also began showing download counts and app size in search results, and it also recently introduced a “Teacher Approved” section for apps and content that are approved as kid-friendly.

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Thanks to XDA Senior Member RKBD for the screenshots!

Source: 9to5Google

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Honor 9X Pro with Kirin 810 and Huawei AppGallery launched in India

Huawei’s sub-brand Honor first unveiled the Honor 9X series in China all the way back in July last year. Earlier this year in January, the company launched the Honor 9X in India, alongside the Honor Magic Watch 2 and Band 5i. However, at the time the company didn’t launch the more-premium Honor 9X Pro in the country. After months of leaks and teasers, the company has now finally launched the Honor 9X Pro in India.

Honor 9X Pro Specifications

Specifications	Honor 9X Pro
Dimensions and Weight	163.1 x 77.2 x 8.8 mm 206g
Display	6.59-inches LCD 2340 x 1080 resolution 19.5:9 aspect ratio
SoC	HiSilicon Kirin 810: 2x ARM Cortex-A76 @ 2.27GHz + 6x ARM Cortex-A55 @1.55GHz; 7nm fabrication process Mali-G52 MP6 GPU
RAM and Storage	6GB + 256GB
Expandability	Up to 512GB via microSD
Battery	4000mAh
Fingerprint Sensor	Yes, side-mounted
Rear Camera	48MP primary sensor, f/1.8 8MP, ultrawide 2MP, depth sensor
Front Camera	16MP, f/2.2, pop-up
Connectivity	Dual 4G VoLTE Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz) Bluetooth 5.0 LE GPS + GLONASS USB Type-C 3.5mm Headphone Jack
Android Version	EMUI 9.1.1 based on Android 9 Pie

The Honor 9X Pro is a mid-range device powered by Huawei’s HiSilicon Kirin 810 chipset, which is accompanied with 6GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage, which is further expandable up to 512GB using a microSD card. It packs in a 6.59-inch display with no notch or hole-punch cutout and minimal bezels on all sides. Much like several other devices from last year, the 9X Pro features a pop-up camera mechanism to house the selfie camera; something that we haven’t seen in many devices launched this year.

Speaking of cameras, the Honor 9X Pro features a triple camera setup on the back with a 48MP primary sensor, an 8MP ultra wide-angle camera, and a 2MP depth sensor. Over on the front, the device has a single 16MP selfie shooter. Rounding off the specifications is a 4,000mAh battery with support for 10W wired charging via the USB Type-C port.

On the software front, the Honor 9X Pro runs EMUI 9.1.1 based on Android 9 Pie but unlike the non-pro variant, it doesn’t include Google Mobile Services or the Google Play Store. Instead, the device ships with Huawei’s alternative to Google Mobile Services and it’s the first device from the company to ship with the Huawei AppGallery.

Pricing and Availability

The Honor 9X Pro will be available exclusively via Flipkart at a price of ₹17,999 (~$238), but users will be able to get the device at a discounted price of ₹14,999 (~$199) during the special early access sale on May 21 and May 22. Registrations for the early access sale are already live and if you’re interested in purchasing the device, you can pre-book it until May 19 to get the extra ₹3,000 discount. Honor has also announced a couple of other launch offers, including no-cost EMI up to 6 months and free one-time screen replacement within 3 months of purchase. The device will be available in two color variants — Phantom Purple and Midnight Black.

Since the Honor 9X Pro has already been launched in other markets, we had the chance to play with the device earlier this year. You can check out our hands-on review of the Honor 9X Pro by following this link or you can check out TK Bay’s video on the device linked above.

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Huawei Y9s with 16MP pop-up camera, Kirin 710F launched in India

Huawei has just launched a new mid-range smartphone in India. Dubbed the Huawei Y9s, this smartphone keeps the basic design language and internal hardware of last year’s Huawei Y9 Prime, but brings along a camera refresh in the form of the 48MP primary camera to better stand against the competition.

The Huawei Y9s features a 6.59-inch IPS LTPS with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and Full HD+ resolution, wrapped in a glass body with curved sides which Huawei calls it 3D arc design. Huawei has moved around a few things on the back so as not to repeat the exact look of the Huawei Y9 Prime. For example, all three cameras are now housed inside a vertical strip while the fingerprint scanner has been relocated to the right frame and doubles as the power button.

On the inside, the Huawei Y9s is powered by mid-range HiSilicon Kirin 710F octa-core chipset, featuring 4x ARM Cortex-A73 clocked at 2.2GHz frequency and 4x ARM Cortex-A53 efficiency cores running at 1.7GHz frequency, coupled with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.1 flash storage.

The quad-camera setup on this phone is comprised of a 48MP primary – a step up from the 16MP unit on the Y9 Prime – an 8MP wide-angle camera with a 120-degree field of view, and 2MP depth sensor. For selfie needs, the phone has a 16MP pop-up selfie shooter.

The Huawei Y9s is powered by a 4,000mAh battery that charges via USB-C port. The phone comes running EMUI 9.1 based on Android 9.0 Pie along with Google apps. In terms of connectivity, the phone supports Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS, and 4G LTE. The phone does come with Google Apps support, but on the flip side, it runs on EMUI 9.1 based on Android Pie.

Huawei Y9s: Pricing and Availability

The Huawei Y9s comes in two colors – Breathing Crystal and Midnight Black – and will be exclusively available from Amazon India starting May 19 for ₹19,990. There is an option to purchase the phone with a 9-month no-cost EMI, which will get you a ₹1,000 cashback too.

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Vivo V19 with Snapdragon 712 and 33W FlashCharge 2.0 launched in India

Owing to the lockdown imposed by the government to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in India, several smartphone OEMs had previously postponed new smartphone launches in the country. But with the recent lockdown relaxation, manufacturers have once again started launching new devices in the market. In the past few weeks, we’ve seen several new devices hit the market, including the OnePlus 8 series, Xiaomi Mi 10, and the Realme Narzo series. Adding on to the list, Chinese OEM Vivo has now launched the Snapdragon 712-powered Vivo V19 in India.

Vivo V19 Specifications

Specification	Vivo V19
Dimension & Weight	159.64 x 75.04 x 8.5 mm 186.5g
Display	6.44″ AMOLED FHD+ 100% DCI-P3 color gamut Dual hole-punch cutout Corning Gorilla Glass 6
Security	In-display fingerprint sensor Software-based face recognition
System-on-Chip	Qualcomm Snapdragon 712
RAM	8GB
Storage	128GB 256GB
Battery & Charging	4,500 mAh 33W FlashCharge 2.0
Rear Camera	48MP primary camera 8MP ultra wide-angle camera 2MP depth sensor 2MP macro camera
Front Camera	32MP primary selfie camera 8MP ultra wide-angle camera
Software Version	Funtouch OS 10 based on Android 10
Connectivity	USB Type-C Bluetooth v5.0 Dual-band WiFi (2.4GHz/5GHz)
Colors	Mystic Silver, Piano Black

The all-new Vivo V19 packs in a 6.44-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a dual-hole punch cutout in the top right corner for the selfie cameras. Both the front and the back of the device are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6. As mentioned earlier, the device is powered by Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon 712 chipset, coupled with 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage.

In the camera department, the Vivo V19 features a quad-camera setup on the back arranged in an L-shaped array. These include a 48MP primary camera, an 8MP ultra-wide camera, a 2MP sensor for depth perception, and a 2MP dedicated macro camera. Over on the front, the device has a 32MP primary selfie shooter and an 8MP 105° wide-angle camera.

The Vivo V19 features a design similar to most other modern smartphones, with a large rectangular camera module on the back and minimal bezels over on the front.  Both the volume rocker and power button can be found on the right edge of the device, with the SIM card tray housed on the left edge. The device has a USB Type-C port for charging and data syncing, along with other connectivity options like Bluetooth v5.0, 2.4GHz/5GHz dual-band WiFi, and OTG support.

Rounding things off is a respectable 4,500mAh battery with support for 33W FashCharge 2.0, which is capable of charging the battery from 0 to70% in 40 minutes with the included charger. As with most other Vivo devices launched recently, the Vivo V19 runs Funtouch OS 10 based on Android 10.

Pricing and Availability

The Vivo V19 will be available in two color variants — Mystic Silver and Piano Black — at a starting price of ₹27,990 (~$370) for the 8GB/128GB variant. The 8GB/256GB variant, on the other hand, has been priced at ₹31,990 (~$424).

The device will go on sale starting May 15th via the company’s own online store, Amazon.in, Flipkart, and partner offline stores. Vivo has also extended a couple of launch offers for early purchasers, including 10% cashback with HDFC and ICICI credit cards, one-time free screen replacement, no-cost EMI options for up to 12 months, and exclusive Jio/Airtel benefits.

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Google Maps is rolling out a redesigned real-time location sharing UI

Google Maps is one of Google’s flagship services, having served countless users over the years. Features such as Live View AR navigation, new transit features such as crowdedness predictions, assisted public transit routes, and more — all work together to make Google Maps the de-facto navigation solution for so many users. The app has even adapted itself to the COIVD-19 era when more people are urged to stay home, by providing useful information such as food and night shelter information in India, as well as information on which local restaurants are still working. While COVID-19 advisories are still in place, Google is rolling out a redesigned UI for its real-time location sharing feature, in case you do need to move out.

Real-time location sharing was introduced back in March 2017, allowing users to share their location with their contacts with just a few taps. People who have received a location share can open Maps on their phones to see the real-time location of the sender. The basic idea behind the function has remained the same, but the UI is now receiving a refresh. As reported by AndroidPolice, an update to Google Maps coupled with a server-side rollout has brought a new interface to the app’s location-sharing interface.

This new refresh brings along a new floating action button and surfaces more detailed information and makes them visible at a glance. Within the location sharing interface, the blue bar at the top is replaced by a white bar, while the contacts and links with their details are now present at the bottom in a vertically expanding list. The location sharing prompt has also been changed, now coming in with more rounded edges and a fake drop-down menu. Your own current location is also shown off in a floating card, along with your current address and the phone’s current charge level.

The new changes are rolling out through the Google Maps 10.40.2 update, coinciding with a server-side flag. If you would like to check out the new UI, you can try sideloading the latest update.

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Maps - Navigate & Explore (Free, Google Play) →

Story Via: AndroidPolice

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Google Translate 6.8.0 adds a COVID-19 info card and prepares to let you save transcripts

Earlier this year in March, Google finally rolled out real-time translation in Google Translate which allows users to record speech in one language and have them translated on your phone in near real-time. The feature, called Transcribe, differs from Google Translate’s older transcription feature that required you to input text or voice and then wait for the translation. However, despite its usefulness, the feature surprisingly didn’t allow users to save transcripts. But that might change soon, as a teardown of the latest version of Google Translate (v6.8.0) has revealed code which suggests that Google is working to include a save transcripts feature in the app.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.

Once live, the save transcripts option in the real-time translation feature will bring up a prompt that will alert users to save their transcripts after the translation is completed. The new strings of code also reveal that users will be able to delete saved transcripts, rename them, and view all saved transcripts. In case a user tries to exit the Transcribe feature without saving the transcript, the app will also push an alert that states: “If you exit Transcribe, you will lose your current unsaved transcript. Are you sure you want to exit?”

<string name="delete_transcript">Delete transcript?</string>
<string name="hint_save_transcript">Name</string>
<string name="msg_delete_transcript">Are you sure to delete the transcript \"%s\"?</string>
<string name="msg_exit_session_transcribe">If you exit Transcribe, you will lose your current unsaved transcript. Are you sure you want to exit?</string>
<string name="rename_transcript">Rename transcript</string>
<string name="save_transcript">Save transcript</string>
<string name="saved_transcript_title">Saved transcripts</string>

Additionally, a few other strings hint at an upcoming option that will let you choose the audio input source for the real-time translation feature. With this option, users will be able to select either their phone’s microphone or the headset microphone for the real-time translation.

<string name="label_listen_choose_microphone">Choose microphone</string>
<string name="label_listen_headset_microphone">Headset</string>
<string name="label_listen_phone_microphone">Phone</string>

In terms of user-facing changes, Google Translate v6.8.0 adds a new COVID-19 card that will pop up whenever users translate a word related to the ongoing pandemic. As you can see in the screenshot below, translating the word coronavirus brings up the new card which includes a hyperlink to help users easily get the latest information on the pandemic.

While the new COVID-19 card is already live on the latest version of Google Translate, we currently have no information on when the other two features will be added to the app. We’ll update this post as soon as Google releases the feature in a future version of the app.

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Thanks to PNF Software for providing us a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android applications.

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The OPPO Reno4 may have just leaked with a camera design like the LG Velvet

Towards the end of last year, OPPO launched the Reno3 and Reno3 Pro in China. These new mid-range devices from the company featured MediaTek’s Dimensity 1000L and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 765G, respectively. However, the international variants of the devices that were launched earlier this year in March featured completely different specifications. Instead of the Dimensity 1000L chip, the OPPO Reno3 (global) packed in MediaTek’s Helio P90, while the Reno3 Pro (global) featured the Helio P95. The Chinese Reno3 Vitality Edition and Reno3 Pro, on the other hand, were recently launched as the Find X2 Lite and Find X2 Neo globally. Amid this confusion, OPPO has been working on the next-gen Reno smartphones and we now have our first look at the upcoming OPPO Reno4.

In a recent post on Chinese social media platform Weibo, renowned leakster Ice Universe has shared a leaked image of the OPPO Reno4. The image showcases the back panel of the OPPO Reno4, both in black and white color variants, featuring a quad-camera setup that looks quite a bit like the camera design we recently saw on the LG Velvet.

Three out of the four cameras on the device have been arranged vertically, with the fourth smaller camera module placed to the right of the third camera. Unlike the LG Velvet, however, the three main cameras on the OPPO Reno3 look to be of the same size, and upon careful inspection, you can also see a border around the cameras. The device also has an LED flash, which resides to the right of the topmost camera sensor.

It’s also worth noting that there’s a very high chance of this Reno4 live image being a fake. As Gizmochina points out, OEMs under the BBK Electronics umbrella are known to skip the number 4 for their devices as it’s considered a bad omen in China. Since OPPO is also a part of BBK Electronics and has previously never launched a smartphone with the number 4 in the name, we’d request you to take this leak with a rather large grain of salt.

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Source: Weibo

Featured image: OPPO Reno3 (global)

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