Gmail Go is a less bloated Gmail app that’s now available for all

Google offers quite a few ‘Go’ variants of its apps, which are designed for entry-level devices running Android Go. These include apps like Google Go, Google Assistant Go, Gallery Go, Google Maps Go, Google Camera Go, and many more. The company keeps adding new apps to the lineup ever so often, and it recently released a stripped-down version of the Gmail app on the Play Store. The new Gmail Go app brings a lighter Gmail experience for all devices, featuring just the essentials.

As per a recent 9to5Google report, the Gmail Go listing on the Play Store is nearly identical to that of the regular Gmail app, except for the new icon with a “Go” badge at the bottom. The listing specifies that Gmail Go offers the “Gmail you love, now lighter and just fast,” but it still features the same screenshots as the regular version. However, the app itself is quite different from the full-blown Gmail app.

Gmail Go’s UI follows the same structure as the regular app, but it doesn’t include quite a few features. For instance, the app doesn’t feature a bottom bar because Google Meet has not been integrated into the app. The app’s UI elements are also flatter when compared to the regular Gmail app, with no layering or shadows. Instead, it makes use of a white outline for the search bar and Compose button to help them stand out.

Additionally, the report claims that the frame rate of the app has been capped so much so that it results in a perceptible lag when you scroll through the app. This is most likely a performance optimization that will benefit devices with low-end specifications. As mentioned earlier, the app isn’t restricted to Android Go devices and it’s available for all users. In case you’re not a fan of the regular Gmail app, you can give Gmail Go a shot by downloading it form the Play Store link below.

Gmail Go (Free, Google Play) →

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Via: 9to5Google

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Google Pixel 4a and Nest Audio launched in India for ₹29,999 and ₹6,999

At the Made by Google event earlier this month, Google finally lifted the covers off the new Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G. Along with the two new smartphones, the company unveiled the Nest Audio smart speaker and the Google Chromecast with Google TV streaming stick. While the Pixel 5 and the Pixel 4a will not be coming to India, Google has launched the Pixel 4a and Nest Audio in the country.

Google Pixel 4a

The Pixel 4a comes in at a special discounted launch price of ₹29,999 (~$410), with an MRP of ₹31,999 (~$437). The phone will be made available on Flipkart through its Big Billion Day Specials Sale, from Friday, October 16, 2020. The phone is sold in Black color only.

Google Pixel 4a on Flipkart || Google Pixel 4a XDA Forums

Google Pixel 4a: Specifications

Specification	Google Pixel 4a
Dimensions & Weight	144 x 69.4 x 8.2mm 143g
Display	5.81″ OLED display at 2340×1080 resolution 19.5:9 aspect ratio single hole-punch cutout 60Hz refresh rate Always on Display Gorilla Glass 3
CPU & GPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G 2 x ARM Cortex-A76 @ 2.2GHz 6 x ARM Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz Adreno 618 Fabricated on Samsung’s 8nm LPP process
RAM & Storage	6GB LPDDR4X + 128GB UFS 2.1
Battery & Charging	3,140mAh 18W USB Type-C Power Delivery
Security	Physical rear-mounted fingerprint scanner Titan M hardware security module
Rear Camera	Images: 12.2MP Sony IMX363, f/1.7 aperture lens, 1.4µm pixels, 77° field-of-view, Dual Pixel Phase Detection, OIS, EIS Videos: Up to 4K@30fps Slow-motion: Up to 1080p@120fps Dual LED flash Up to 7X digital zoom
Front Camera	8MP Sony IMX355, f/2.0 aperture lens, 1.12µm pixels, 84° field-of-view, EIS, fixed focus
Ports	USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C port 3.5mm headphone jack, 2 microphones Single nano-SIM card slot (+ eSIM)
Connectivity	Qualcomm Snapdragon X15 LTE modem Up to 800Mbps downloads Up to 150Mbps uploads NFC, GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, WiFi 2.4GHz + 5GHz 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2×2 MIMO, Bluetooth 5.1
Other Features	Now Playing, New Google Assistant, Live Caption, Google Recorder app, Personal Safety app Camera: Live HDR+, dual exposure controls, Night Sight with astrophotography, social share, Portrait Mode, Super Res Zoom
Android Version	Android 10 3 years of Android OS upgrades 3 years of monthly Android security patch updates

Nest Audio

The Nest Audio comes in at a special discounted launch price of ₹6,999 (~$96), with an MRP of ₹7,999 (~$110). The smart speaker will also be a part of the Flipkart Big Billion Day Specials Sale, from Friday, October 16, 2020. Post the online sale, it will also be available across Reliance Retail and Tata Cliq retail outlets in India. The smart speaker will be available in Chalk and Charcoal colors only.

Google Nest Audio: Specifications

Specification	Google Nest Audio
Build	Fabric Cover made from 70% recycled plastic 4 LEDs in the middle
Dimensions & Weight	6.89 x 4.88 x 3.07 inches 2.65lbs
Audio (In and Out)	75mm woofer 19mm tweeter 3 far-field microphones
Voice Assistant	Google Assistant
Controls	Touch Controls: Play/Pause – Tap front top Volume up – Tap front right corner Volume down – Tap front left corner)
Charging	30W DC power supply
Connectivity	2.4GHz/5GHz 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) Bluetooth 5.0

What are your thoughts on the Pixel 4a and Nest Audio pricing in India? Let us know in the comments below!

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Here are the official OnePlus 8T renders from all angles

Over the last several weeks, we’ve seen a barrage of leaks and teasers about the upcoming OnePlus 8T. And so far, we’ve learned a fair bit about the upcoming device. We already know that the OnePlus 8T will feature a flat display with a hole-punch cutout and a max refresh rate of 120Hz. The device will feature Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 865 Plus chip and a quad-camera setup comprised of a 48MP primary sensor, a 16MP wide-angle sensor, a 5MP macro camera, and a 2MP depth sensor.

Furthermore, we’ve seen renders of the device that showcase a design similar to the OPPO A72. And, on top of all that, a prematurely-published Amazon listing for the OnePlus 8T has confirmed that it will feature a 6.55-inch FHD+ display. OnePlus has also gone ahead and revealed some details about the display on the device, including its touch sampling rate of 240Hz, its JNCD of around 0.3, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, HDR 10+ support, a flicker-detect sensor, 8,192 levels of brightness adjustment, and enhanced blue light filtering. The company has also shared that the device will feature a 4,500mAh battery and support for 65W fast wired charging.

Now, just a few days ahead of the launch, OnePlus has unveiled an official render of the Aquamarine Green variant of the OnePlus 8T, and Chinese e-tailer JD.com has put up a listing for the device with renders that give us a clear look at it from all angles.

In a blog post on the OnePlus Community forums, the company’s CEO Pete Lau has shared a video showcasing the Aquamarine Green variant of the OnePlus 8T. Lau has also shared some interesting tidbits about the months-long process that resulted in this new finish. In the post, Lau notes:

“After exploring countless iterations with different CMFs (color, material and finish) for more than 4 months, we achieved a breakthrough and produced a remarkable glossy back cover for the new Aquamarine Green variant of the OnePlus 8T. This version takes advantage of diffuse reflection, a form of light refraction that scatters light in an expansive array of angles and directions, to produce a clean, gleaming surface that effectively mitigates the buildup of fingerprints.”

While the video shared by Lau only gives a brief glimpse of the Aquamarine Green OnePlus 8T, a JD.com listing for the device includes official renders of the new color variant from all angles.

Along with these official renders, a leaked render of the Lunar Silver variant of the OnePlus 8T has also surfaced online. This color variant seems to have a matte finish, as opposed to the glossy finish of the Aquamarine Green variant.

OnePlus is scheduled to launch the OnePlus 8T on October 14th. The company is also expected to unveil the OnePlus Buds Z alongside its next-gen flagship.

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Source: OnePlus Community Forums, JD.com

Via: Twitter (1,2)

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Samsung launches the Galaxy F41 with an Exynos 9611 and 6000mAh battery

Samsung on Thursday introduced the Galaxy F41 in India, in what the company is describing is a device for “the lifestyle of young Gen Z and millennial consumers.” The device was developed in partnership with India’s Flipkart and is the first under the new mid-range F Series.

The Galaxy F41 features a 6.4-inch Full HD+ sAMOLED Infinity U display (meaning it has a notch), a 6000mAh battery, and a triple-camera setup. There’s a main 64MP camera, an 8MP ultra-wide lens, and a 5MP depth lens for portrait shots. Samsung said the Galaxy F41 supports the company’s “Single Take” feature that takes ten different pictures — seven photos and three videos — with a single click.

The device also comes equipped with an Exynos 9611 Octa-core processor, 6GB of RAM, and up to 128GB of internal storage that can be expanded to 512GB. The whole package features a glossy gradation back panel that comes in Fusion Black, Fusion Blue and Fusion Green.

Additionally, the device comes equipped with a rear fingerprint sensor, supports face unlock, and features Android 10 with One UI 2.

Samsung Galaxy F41 Forums

Samsung Galaxy F41 Specifications

Samsung Galaxy F41	Specs
Display	6.4-inch Full HD+ sAMOLED Infinity U
Camera	64MP main lens 8MP ultra-wide angle lens 5MP depth sensor
Memory	6GB + 64GB of storage 6GB + 128GB of storage (expandable to 512GB)
Battery	6000mAh
Processor	Exynos 9611 Octa-core
OS	Android 10 with One UI 2

The Galaxy F41 will launch for ₹16999 on October 16 and be available on Flipkart, Samsung.com, and select retail stores; the version with more internal storage costs ₹17999. To celebrate the device’s launch, there are a number of promotions worth noting. During Flipkart Big Billion Days, you can get a discount on the Galaxy F41, bringing the price down to INR 15499 and INR 16499, respectively. And if you use an SBI credit or debit card during Flipkart Big Billion Days, you can get an additional 10% off.

Consumers can also take advantage of the Flipkart Smart Upgrade program, which Samsung said will only require users to pay for 70% of the device value. The plan will be available for payments made through credit card and EMI, and consumers can then upgrade to a new phone on Flipkart after 12 months.

Samsung Galaxy F41

The Galaxy F41 continues Samsung's successful formula of marrying a mid-range processor with capable cameras and a big battery.

Buy at Flipkart

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Google’s Sound Notifications feature alerts you about important household noises

Accessibility features are an important part of the mobile experience. They allow more people to take advantage of features we might take for granted. To further expand Android’s accessibility, Google is introducing Sound Notifications designed to listen for “critical sounds.”

There’s an estimated 466 million people in the world who are hard of hearing, so Sound Notifications can make a big difference in people’s everyday lives. Going forward, users will be served a push notification, a flash from their camera light, or a vibration when a certain sound is detected.

Using machine learning, the feature works completely offline and uses your device’s microphone to recognize ten different noises:

• Smoke and fire alarms
• Siren
• Shouting
• Baby sounds
• Doorbell ringing
• Knocking
• Dog barking
• Appliance beeping
• Water running
• Landline phone ringing

Other devices support Sound Notifications, including Wear OS devices, by sending text notifications with vibrations to your watch. Google said this will allow users to get notifications while they’re asleep — something many in the deaf and hard of hearing community requested. There’s also a timeline view so you can scroll through a snapshot of detected sounds from the last few hours.

Google first put sound detection features in Live Transcribe, showing over 30 sound events alongside real time captions. The company also added an “Attention Alerts” feature to the Pixel Buds, which temporarily lowers the volume whenever an important sound is heard, such as a baby crying or dog barking.

You can turn on the Sound Notifications feature by going to Settings > Accessibility. Google said if you don’t see this option, you can download Live Transcribe from Google Play, then go to your settings and turn on Sound Notifications.

Live Transcribe (Free, Google Play) →

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Hands-on with Night Mode in Google Camera Go: Democratizing Low-Light Photography

If there’s one area Google’s Pixel smartphones remain undefeated, it is definitely in camera software. Most of the magic in the Google Camera app happens on the software side. Even though the tech giant continues to use the same 12.2MP primary camera on its smartphones since the Pixel 2, the software algorithms backing the Google Camera’s phenomenal “computational photography” keep improving significantly with each new Pixel smartphone. Google’s incredible camera processing has inspired developers, including some of the most notable personalities on the XDA-Developers forums, to modify the Google Camera app to run on non-Google smartphones. Similarly, for low-end and budget devices, developers have also ported Google Camera Go, a lightweight version of Google’s camera app for Android (Go Edition) devices, which was recently updated with a Night Mode.

Night Mode, as you would expect, is analogous with Night Sight in the full Google Camera app. We tried out Camera Go’s Night Mode using a modified version of the app courtesy of developer and XDA Senior member mickey36736, better known as Wichaya in the GCam modding community. The latest Google Camera Go (version 1.8.332394960) APK was extracted from the Google Play Store by XDA Senior Member RKBD, but Night Mode does not show up if you sideload this version. Wichaya modified the APK to activate Night Mode, and that’s what we are using to test.

Note: Night Mode in the Google Camera Go app is currently exclusive to the Nokia 1.3 Android Go smartphone, but we’re using the mod on the Nokia 5.3. This article serves as a demonstration of the Night Mode feature in Camera Go rather than a review of the camera quality of the Nokia 1.3, which we do not have on hand.

Night Mode in Google Camera Go

The Google Camera Go app was first introduced earlier this year alongside the Nokia 1.3. It’s designed for low-end devices with single cameras, so it comes with a simple interface with basic features like face enhancement, photo, video, a portrait mode, and a built-in visual translator. The latest update to the app adds Night Mode, though Google is also preparing to add HDR support to the app.

HDR is not yet enabled in the modded version of the app by Wichaya (perhaps because Google themselves haven’t finished it), but Night Mode works on most of the devices we tried it on — even though we cannot ensure support on all modern devices. The new APK weighs only 16MB in size, ideal for a low-end device with limited storage. The mod also appears to have the Night Mode processing library, called “libNightMode_jni.so” and 7.1MB in size, within the APK itself.

I took the Nokia 5.3 running Google Camera Go out for a spin last night and tested it in different low-light conditions to see how well it fares. The following are some of the examples:

Night Mode Off (left) vs On (right)

Very evidently, the Night Mode on Google Camera Go improves the lighting significantly in all scenarios. Besides illuminating the scenes, Night Mode also helps improve the sharpness in the images. Despite this, there may be some instances of fairly low brightness where the Camera Go app fails to focus. There is a fair bit of noise in all the shots, primarily due to the high ISO values.

Notably, while the images without Night Mode are taken at 12MP, the images with Night Mode on are snapped at just 2MP and that is presumably to keep the image size low. Furthermore, reading into the EXIF data reveals that the exposure time is 3-4 times higher with the Night Mode than without it.

While the resulting images with Night Mode on the Google Camera Go aren’t incredibly impressive, we have to keep our expectations in check—Night Mode in Google Camera Go isn’t meant to be on par with Night Sight on the regular Google Camera, and expecting as such is only setting yourself up for disappointment. The results, when considering them on their own, are exciting due to the fact the app is intended for devices much lower in the price bracket.

You can find all of the images above and some more in the Flickr gallery shared below.

What are your thoughts on the Night Mode on the Google Camera Go? Let us know in the comments below!

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AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs with Zen 3 architecture officially unveiled

AMD has officially unveiled its all-new Ryzen 5000 series of desktop processors. Based on the new Zen 3 architecture, AMD is claiming its new lineup has the “Fastest Gaming CPUs in the World.” The new series is headed by the Ryzen 9 5950X, offering up to 16-cores with 32-threads and 72MB of cache.

Now for those of you who like to see numbers, AMD has compared its new lineup with its previous Zen 2 architecture-based CPUs as well as the Intel Core i9-10900K. The 12-core 5900X processor offers up to a 26% generational uplift in gaming performance and a 19% generational increase in instructions per cycle (IPC). It is also said to be 7% faster than the competition in 1080p gaming and an average of 26% faster in 1080p gaming generationally. The company hasn’t shared performance numbers for the Ryzen 9 5950X but claims it offers the highest single-thread and multi-core performance of any desktop gaming processor.

When you challenged us to continue striving for single-core performance leadership on AMD Ryzen desktop processors, we listened. And we like to think the results speak for themselves. #GameOnAMD pic.twitter.com/vH4U6CjOfL

— AMD Ryzen (@AMDRyzen) October 8, 2020

It is interesting to note that AMD is yet again limiting the maximum boosted clock speeds to be under 5GHz. Intel, on the other hand, boosts up to 5.3GHz on its current generation Core-i9 10900K. This also means that the maximum power draw is less when compared to Intel, with the 5800X, 5900X, and the 5950X all rated at 105W TDP. As per the press release, these three CPUs will not come with a bundled heatsink fan. The wraith stealth cooler will only be available with the most affordable model, the Ryzen 5 5600X. The good thing, however, is that the existing AMD 500 series motherboards will support the new Ryzen 5000 Series desktop processors with a simple BIOS update. Just yesterday, we saw Intel officially confirming that it will be launching its 11th geneneration desktop processors by early 2021, which could give AMD’s new lineup some fierce competition.

All four Ryzen 5000 CPUs are expected to start shipping on November 5. Pricing begins at $299 going all the way up to $799 if you want your hands on the Ryzen 9 5950X. AMD has also announced the ‘Equipped to Win’ game bundle program. Customers purchasing either the Ryzen 9 5950X, Ryzen 9 5900X, or the Ryzen 7 5800X processor will get a free copy of Far Cry 6 (when it’s released) if a purchase is made before December 31, 2020. The program has also been extended to the previous-gen lineup if customers buy the Ryzen 9 3950X, Ryzen 9 3900XT, or Ryzen 7 3800XT processor between October 20th and December 31st, 2020.

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