Over the past year, Google has been gradually updating all its app with a new dark mode setting. The company recently released dark mode support for Google Translate, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides. And now, the company is preparing to add a dark mode option for menus and settings on Google Maps. While Google released a dark mode for navigation on Google Maps back in 2018, the app didn’t include an option to turn on dark mode for the menus and settings pages. According to a recent tweet from Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a), the company is finally working on adding a universal dark mode toggle to the app.
As you can see in the screenshots shared in the tweet, the new dark theme option in Google Maps can be found within the Appearance section in the app settings. Tapping on the option brings up a pop-up window with three options — Light theme, Dark theme, and Default to device theme. Selecting the Dark theme option and tapping on the Save button converts all of the app’s white UI elements to a dark gray, with the text going from black to white to maintain visibility.
The Default to device theme option, on the other hand, will let Google Maps automatically pick the system-wide theme currently in use. This means that if you’re using a scheduled system-wide dark mode, the app will conform to the current theme based on your global settings. As of now, it isn’t clear which version of the app will introduce the new Dark theme setting. Paluzzi managed to manually enable the feature in version 10.5.0 of the app, but it isn’t available for users at the moment. We will update this post as soon as the feature starts rolling out to users.
After months of delays due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Google’s new Pixel 4a smartphone is finally on sale. The mid-range Android phone packs a similar feature set to the Pixel 4 including its excellent camera and clean Android experience, but at a significantly lower price. While the Pixel 4 starts at $799, the Pixel 4a retails for less than half that at $349 in the US.
You can order the Google Pixel 4a right now from a few different retailers including Amazon, Google’s own store, and Best Buy. You don’t have a lot of choice around size, storage, or color as there’s only one option available: the Just Black model that comes equipped with 128GB of storage and 6GB of RAM. Nonetheless, Amazon lets you bundle a case with your new phone to give you a little choice between options.
Unlike previous devices – including the Pixel 3a series last year – there’s no XL model. However, Google has announced the Pixel 4a 5G, which will launch later this year and will likely come with a display larger than the 5.81-inch OLED panel on the Pixel 4a. There’s also a more-than-capable Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G processor, the excellent 12.2MP dual-pixel rear camera from the Pixel 4, and a 3,140mAh battery. Given the battery problems that plagued the regular Pixel 4, the larger battery in the Pixel 4a should result in all-day battery life.
Despite a few compromises compared to its more expensive siblings, the Pixel 4a is easily one of the best Pixel devices ever made and the best value-for-money smartphone you can buy right now.
Pixel 4a price and release date in the US
Google’s new smartphone is launching in the US on August 20th, with the phone only sold for $349, and a phone bundled with a case retailing for $389. Although it was just announced, there are already offers available that can reduce the price to only $249.
Amazon launched pre-orders early, and if you act quickly, you can still secure one for the release day of August 20th. They also have three bundled case options available as well.
If you're planning to buy a Pixel 4a and also want to join Sprint, look no further than this deal. Best Buy is offering the Pixel 4a for $349 unlocked, but you can get it for $249 with a new Sprint activation or $299 if you upgrade on Sprint or activate on T-Mobile and Verizon when you buy it. An absolute steal.
Google's own online store is also offering the Pixel 4a, with a tasty 0% finance offer bringing the cost down to just $14.54 per month! You can also sign up for Fi at the same time, as well as pick up the full range of compatible accessories.
If you don’t mind having your Pixel 4a on a contract, you might want to consider looking at Verizon’s offers. You can buy the phone outright from Verizon’s store for $380, which is a bit above other retailer prices. But, if you’re starting a new line and choose to do monthly payments, you’ll pay $10 a month for 24 months. Now that’s a deal.
Verizon has two options for the Google Pixel 4a. Either you can buy the phone flat out for $380, or by starting a new line and choosing monthly payments, it's $10 a month for 24 months. The latter is subject to credit approval, so choose the option that's best for you.
While you can get the Pixel 4a from August 20th in the US, you’ll have to wait until October 1st to get your hands on it in the UK. It will be priced at £349, including 20% VAT, and pre-orders will open on September 10th, although you can join the official waitlist right now.
Facebook is adding a forwarding limit in Messenger in an effort to curb the sharing of viral misinformation.
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic still affecting many parts of the world and the contentious U.S. presidential election just a few months away, now more than ever is the time to be vigilant about what you’re reading online. Social media giant Facebook has repeatedly come under fire this year for its use as a platform in misinformation campaigns, along with failing to take timely action on users that promote violence or conspiracies.
“We are introducing a forwarding limit on Messenger to help curb the efforts of those looking to cause chaos, sow uncertainty or inadvertently undermine accurate information,” Facebook said. The Messenger app will now only allow messages to be forwarded to five people or groups at a time.
Social media companies have struggled to stem the spread of misinformation once it becomes viral. Often, dangerous misinformation can spread beyond control before it’s addressed by platform moderators. The addition of a forwarding limit will cool the jets of misinformation being spread like a virus to many people, but it’s unclear how effective it will actually be to slow its spread. Along with enforcing forwarding limits on Messenger, Facebook recently added new privacy controls and said it would stop accepting new political ads a week before the U.S. election in an attempt to prevent the spread of last-minute misinformation.
Vivo is no stranger to pushing the boundaries of smartphone design, introducing all manner of interesting concepts. A few years ago, it was one of the first companies to showcase an under-display fingerprint sensor, and now it’s showcasing yet another impressive design concept using electrochromic glass.
The company this week shared a video on Weibo showcasing a smartphone prototype with a back cover that changes colors. And we don’t mean a blue smartphone simply looking like a different shade of blue at a certain angle. This device actually changes colors.
The video demonstrates the smartphone going from a deep purple to a sleek silver. It’s made possible by electrochromic glass, an electronically tintable glass typically used for windows and skylights that can be controlled by a user. OnePlus teased a similar concept earlier this year, using electrochromic glass to hide and unhide a rear-facing camera. In the OnePlus Concept, the company was able to shift the glass from transparent to opaque by changing the current and voltage.
While the OnePlus concept demonstrated how electrochromic glass can hide components, Vivo’s prototype is much more focused on the design. Rather than buying a phone that’s just silver, why not get one that can go from silver to purple to blue? Now that Vivo has a working prototype, color changing smartphones could be in our future. Of course, introducing a concept like this raises all types of questions, especially about durability and weight. Still, it’s a fascinating concept, and hopefully, one that will someday come to market.
Android smartphones are versatile, and the number of emulators that you can get for modern and retro systems alike is incredible. From age-old systems like the NES right up to the Nintendo 3DS, you can play them all from the comfort of your smartphone. Obviously, emulating more modern systems can be a bit of a difficult task, and the only Nintendo Switch emulator for Android to date was merely conceptual. However, a new Nintendo Switch emulator for Android has just popped up online (via Wololo)… and it surprisingly works. There are some caveats to it, though.
Yeah, this Nintendo Switch emulator is shady
So, first and foremost, this Nintendo Switch emulator is shady. We’re talking stolen code, dodgy translations, a forced login – the works. For background context: Yuzu is the most popular and reputable Nintendo Switch emulator on PC, and it works really well. ByLaws, the developer of the Android for Nintendo Switch port, has said on GBATemp that this Switch emu for Android has used some of Yuzu’s GPU emulation code; he has since also told us that he has found “plenty” of evidence of used Yuzu code. Yuzu, by the way, is licensed under GPLv2, and this new emulator is closed source. On top of that, the team behind this new project claims to be an American studio that has been working on the emulator for over two years, yet their website and the emulator itself has text still left in Chinese along with poor English translations throughout. Finally, to even use the emulator, you need to create an account and log in.
Oh, and you’ll also need a specific controller
Even if you’ve managed to get over the shadiness of this particular emulator, there’s one other, major caveat. You can only use it with a specific controller. This controller is only available to reviewers at the moment, and pre-orders have only just begun at a price of $99.99. It’s a controller that looks very similar to the Nintendo Switch’s Joycons, which does make sense.
If you could actually use the emulator without that controller it would be one thing, but the emulator doesn’t even start without it connected. We spoke with ByLaws who told us that the check for the controller could theoretically be spoofed to support other controllers, but that a lot of effort has been put into obfuscating and protecting the app against debugging and patching. There are theories that this emulator has been developed by the team behind this controller and this is being done as a marketing campaign, though those are theories that are currently unsubstantiated.
A lot of Nintendo Switch games are working though
Probably one of the most credible videos demonstrating this particular emulator working is by Taki Udon, who tested it on the Realme X50 Pro 5G. ETAPrime, one of the largest emulation-focused YouTube channels, has also confirmed that it is real. Taki Udon shows the emulator running Nintendo Switch classics such as Pokémon Sword/Shield, Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, and Pokémon Let’s Go. It runs Pokemon games surprisingly well, though it does admittedly show some slowdowns at times.
The emulator only really runs well on devices with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855/855+/865/865+ flagship SoCs, and you won’t really have any luck emulating on weaker smartphones. The emulator itself boasts compatibility with 81 titles, though 73 are listed as crashing or only getting to the menu.
It’s definitely worth waiting
While this emulator shockingly works, we would recommend holding off on seeking it out for now. It’s not possible to use it without a proprietary $100 controller and it’s violating open-source licenses. We haven’t mentioned the name of the emulator or the name of the controller in this article for these reasons, but it isn’t hard to find. If we learn more about this project, or if other non-shady ones show up, we’ll let you know. Our curiosity has definitely been piqued by this news since it opens up a new frontier for mobile gaming for those of you who also own a hacked Switch.
Ah, Thursday. We’re nearing the end of the week, but we’re not quite there yet. But, it doesn’t matter what day of the week it is, there are something to cheer us up. Maybe you’ll spend this weekend diving into GeForce NOW’s latest releases? I think I’ll just play some games already in my backlog instead of finding some new game to get addicted to, myself. Also, if you’re a OnePlus Nord owner, we have a round-up of some of the best OnePlus Nord cases. Keep your phone protected–you never know when you’re going to drop it.
Today’s tech deals include a good price on a 2TB external hard drive, $150 off Dell’s 4K curved monitor, and more!
Sony WHXB900N Noise Cancelling Headphones for $178
I’m no audiophile, but even I know that Sony’s at the top of the audio game, and their WHXB900N headphones are some of the best on the market. These bluetooth headphones offer incredible noise cancelling technology–but if you need to hear the world around you, touching the right cup of the set will deactivate noise cancelling while you have your conversation. These are top-quality headphones, and with $70 slashed off the MSRP, now’s a great time to pick them up.
It's time to treat yourself to one of the best headsets out there. With noise cancelling technology, up to 30 hours of battery life, and being able to turn down the music for a conversation at the tap of a cup, the WHXB900N is worth the asking price.
Toshiba Canvio Advance 2TB Portable External Hard Drive for $58
External hard drives are essential for data protection. I regularly back up everything on my desktop and laptop on a big external hard drive, and stuff it in a fire-proof lockbox for safety purposes. Yes, cloud technology means that this can be a bit much, but better safe than sorry! Right now at Amazon, you can pick up a meaty 2TB Toshiba external hard drive for $58. That should be enough space for most back-ups, but if you need something to store a large collection of movies, music, or games, the 4TB model is also on sale for $88.
Toshiba's very red external hard drive has 2TB of storage available and a USB 3.0 hookup. If you want to back-up your data and prepare for the worst, this is a good bet.
Phones are expensive. I think that’s probably the most obvious statement to I’ll make to you all month. But that also means when you see a deal like an unlocked OnePlus 7T 128GB Smartphone for $200 off, it’s really worth a look. While you may need to wait a few days for it to ship out (B&H is waiting on more stock), but with as much internal storage as the 7T has and a triple rear camera, this is a quality budget phone pick.
Available in blue or silver, this OnePlus 7T smartphone is a great budget phone option. The 7T runs off Windows 10 and has a Qualcomm Snapdragon855 Plus chipset, and the triple rear camera will make sure you take quality pictures.
Curved monitors are where it’s at right now. With a more immersive viewing angle, curved monitors are perfect for watching movies and gaming, and the right ones can even replicate a dual monitor setup. Dell’s 32″ Curved 4K UHD Monitor does all that and more, and you can get it now for $381, which is $150 off its listed price. The 4K monitor also supports HDR!
Upgrade to the curved monitor life for cheap with Dell's S3221QS. This 4K, UHD, HDR-ready monitor will offer an immersive viewing experience like no other.
Sure, with everyone going back to school and work virtually, a lot of people will be needing laptops that handle the workload. But why settle for something that just handles productivity apps well, when you can have that and a great gaming experience? HP’s OMEN 15.6″ Gaming Laptop is $200 off at Best Buy, bringing the total down to $1,250. This laptop has 16GB RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 all built right in. All in all, a solid gaming laptop!
Want a gaming laptop but don't want to go through the process of trying to build one? With the GeForce RTX 2060 and 512GB SSD, the Omen gaming laptop will have you covered.
Samsung on Thursday began rolling out the September 2020 security update for a handful of its mid-range smartphones, including the Galaxy A21s, the Galaxy A51, and the Galaxy A70. The firmware versions are A217FXXU3ATH4, A515FXXS3BTH4, and A705FNXXU5BTH4, respectively.
News of this rollout was first published by SamMobile, who said the new OTA updates are rolling out in a handful of markets, with larger availability expected in the coming days and weeks.
SamMobile claims the September 2020 security update was first seen on the Galaxy A21s in Ukraine and Russia; the update for the Galaxy A51 was seen in Russia, and the Galaxy A70 update was seen in Ukraine.
You can check to see if the update is available to download by going to Settings > Software update. We don’t know if the update introduces any new features or changes, so it looks like this month’s update is simply aimed at improving your device’s security. Google publishes the Android Security Bulletin on the first Monday of each month, so we don’t have all the details on what vulnerabilities have been patched in the September 2020 security update. These devices also aren’t on Samsung’s big list of phones getting the One UI 2.5 update but it’s unlikely that Samsung won’t bring feature updates to these devices anyway.
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