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vendredi 18 décembre 2020

Best Google Pixel 5 Deals: Where to buy Google’s 2020 flagship

Google’s future is now! The Google Pixel 5 has been out for a while now, and it’s an impressive piece of tech for the price. In our Google Pixel 5 review, Adam Conway mentions that “if you’re looking for a fantastic software experience with good performance, the Google Pixel 5 is definitely worth looking at”. The mid-range chipset may scare off those wanting the bleeding edge, but this flagship runs better than expected and comes at a more affordable price.

Offering a 6-inch, OLED screen with a 90Hz refresh rate and 8GB RAM, you’ll be able to watch anything you like and it’ll be smooth and stutter-free. You’ll even be able to play games without any issue. Couple that with impressive front and rear cameras, you have a device that can stand with the best, while only costing $699.

Of course, retailers are always offering some great Google Pixel 5 deals, as they’re vying for you to purchase this flagship device from them. We’ve rounded up the best deals, so you can skip the research and pick up your new phone!

Where to Buy the Google Pixel 5

If you want to get your hands on the Google Pixel 5, you’ll need to decide if you want an unlocked version or something under a carrier plan. Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store have unlocked phones, while Verizon is the current carrier with the Pixel 5 available to buy.

Best Unlocked Google Pixel 5 Deals

For unlocked Google Pixel 5 deals, you can pick Amazon, Best Buy, or the Google Store.

Amazon

Amazon has both colors of the Pixel 5 in stock, and you know if you go with Amazon, you’ll have the easiest time getting an unlocked phone. With Amazon Prime, you’ll have two day shipping available to you. Finally, if you have an Amazon Prime Rewards card, you can pay $38.83 a month for 18 months, interest-free.

    Google Pixel 5
    Ease, convenience, and two day shipping. What more could you want from Amazon for your Pixel 5 purchase? Prime Rewards cardholders can also pay for the device over 18 months, interest-free.

Best Buy

If you want an unlocked Pixel 5 but want to activate it with a carrier today, you can grab one from Best Buy and save! If you activate with Sprint, you’ll save $100, and if you decide on Verizon, you’ll save $50. You can’t argue with flat savings like that, and you won’t need to fuss around getting your phone activated with your carrier once it arrives either!

    Google Pixel 5
    Buy the Google Pixel 5 from Best Buy and activate today, and you can save up to $100 on your purchase, depending on your carrier!

Google Store

You can’t go wrong grabbing the Pixel 5 from Google themselves. You can order the Google Pixel 5 right now at the Google Store–no waitlist needed! If you qualify for Google Financing, you can also pay off the phone over 24 months at 0% APR.

    Google Pixel 5
    Get the Pixel 5 straight from Google! If you qualify, you can split the $699 into 24 monthly payments with 0% APR.

Best Carrier Google Pixel 5 Deals

Looking to grab a Pixel 5 on a carrier plan? Right now, you can go with Verizon or AT&T.

Verizon

Are you on Verizon, or looking to switch? Then you’re in luck, as the Pixel 5 is available at this carrier. If you trade in an eligible phone, you can save up to $550, which really takes a chunk out of the $699 asking price.

    Google Pixel 5
    The Google Pixel 5 is available at Verizon! You can grab either the black or green version, and you can save up to $550 off if you trade in an eligible phone.

AT&T

The Google Pixel 5 is now available at AT&T! New and old customers alike can get the Google flagship for just $15 a month by trading in an old device and signing up for an unlimited plan. You’ll also get a free Chromecast with Google TV with your purchase!

    Google Pixel 5
    At AT&T, you can get this phone for as low as $10 a mont for 30 months! You just need to have an eligible trade-in and be on an unlimited plan. You'll also get a free Chromecast with Google TV with your purchase.

In a year full of $1000-$2000 flagships, the Google Pixel 5 does not attempt to become a flagship, but it still ends up becoming one simply because it is at the helm of the ship for Google in 2020. But that goes on to show that not everyone needs to have a flagship processor. Most average users should be just fine with the modest package of the Pixel 5. And the camera is just the icing on the top that makes it one of the phones that a lot of reviewers can heartily recommend this year.

The post Best Google Pixel 5 Deals: Where to buy Google’s 2020 flagship appeared first on xda-developers.



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Amazfit GTS 2 with AMOLED display, blood-oxygen monitoring goes on pre-order in India for ₹12,999

In October, Amazfit refreshed its smartwatch series with two new addition in the form of the Amazfit GTS 2 and GTR 2. The company launched the Amazfit GTR 2 in India just yesterday. And now, it’s gearing up to launch the Amazfit GTS 2, with an online launch event confirmed for December 21.

But ahead of the official launch, the company has now opened up pre-orders for the Amazfit GTS 2. You can pick up the square-shaped smartwatch for ₹12,999 ($176). Unlike the GTR 2 which had a Classic and a Sports version, the GTS 2 has a single version only. Interested users can place their pre-order from Amazfit India’s website starting today, and Amazon.in at launch. You can only pre-order it in Midnight Black color — however, there should be more color options when the watch goes on sale.

Aamzfit GTS 2: Specifications

Specification Amazfit GTS 2
Build
  • Aluminum alloy + plastic
  • Silicone strap
Dimensions & Weight
  • 42.8 x 35.6 x 9.7mm
  • 24.7g (without strap)
Display
  • 1.65-inch AMOLED
  • 348 x 442 pixels
  • 341ppi
  • 450 nits
  • ODLC coating for scratch resistance
Sensors
  • Huami BioTracker 2 PPG sensor
  • Air pressure sensor
  • Accelerometer
  • 3-axis gyroscope
  • Geomagnetic sensor
  • Ambient light sensor
Storage
  • 3GB
Battery
  • 246mAh
  • 7 days back up
  • 2.5 hours charging time
Connectivity
  • Bluetooth 5.0
  • WLAN 2.4GHz
  • GPS
  • GLONASS
Water Resistance
  • Yes, 5 ATM
Compatibility
  • Android 5.0 or iOS 10.0 and above

As a refresher, the Amazfit GTS 2 is a direct successor to the last year’s Amazfit GTS. Unlike the Amazfit GTR 2, the GTS 2 features a square dial similar to the Apple Watch series. It sports a 1.65-inch AMOLED display with a screen resolution of 348 x 442 and a peak brightness of 450nits. The company claims the new watch is thinner and lighter than its predecessor. One of the major highlights of the smartwatch includes real-time blood oxygen monitoring, 24-hour heart rate monitoring, water resistance, calling support, built-in GPS, and sleep tracking. It also packs 3GB of flash storage and a 246 mAh battery, which the company claims lasts up to 7 days.

The post Amazfit GTS 2 with AMOLED display, blood-oxygen monitoring goes on pre-order in India for ₹12,999 appeared first on xda-developers.



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YouTube Music is testing a grid layout for singles and albums from artists

After killing off Google Play Music earlier this year, Google has been making constant efforts to bring YouTube Music up to par with the outgoing app. The company has rolled out several new features to the app over the last few months, and it has also enabled a few features for free accounts that were previously only available to users who had a premium subscription. Along with that, Google has also tested a couple of UI changes for the app, like introducing a new activity bar that gives users quick access to four personalized playlists. Now, Google is testing another new UI change with a couple of users that will change the Singles and Album layouts on artist pages.

The new Singles and Albums layout in YouTube Music was recently spotted by Reddit user u/Iordbrack, who shared the following screenshots. As you can see, the updated layout displays all the singles and albums from an artist in a grid format instead of the current list layout.

YouTube Music current list layout artist page YouTube Music new grid layout artist page

The new grid layout brings the album art to the forefront and shows the song name and release year underneath. As of now, it isn’t clear if the app will provide users with an option to switch between these layouts, but I sure hope it does. I personally prefer the existing list format as it shows a larger number of songs/albums at once. The grid layout, on the other hand, barely shows 6 songs/albums. While I’m not a fan of the grid layout, I do appreciate the new cast button in the top right corner, which will make it much easier to cast to other devices from YouTube Music.

YouTube Music current list layout artist page YouTube Music new grid layout artist page

Which layout do you prefer? Do you think Google should add a toggle to let users pick the Singles/Albums page layout? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

The post YouTube Music is testing a grid layout for singles and albums from artists appeared first on xda-developers.



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Spotify is now available on the Epic Games Store

The Epic Games Store is a digital distribution platform, like Steam, where users can purchase digital copies of a wide variety of games. However, unlike Steam, the platform currently only hosts games, and users have to rely on other services to purchase miscellaneous software. But that may change soon as the Epic Games Store is now expanding its portfolio, starting with Spotify.

As per a recent tweet from the official Epic Games Store handle, users can now download Spotify on the platform. If you’re a fan of the popular music streaming service, you can follow this link to install Spotify on your Windows or macOS device. The Spotify app on the Epic Games Store is free to download, but you’ll have to pay for a premium subscription if you wish to get full functionality and remove all ads. In case you have an ongoing subscription, you’ll have to log in with the same credentials to enjoy the premium benefits.

Epic Games’ move to offer the Spotify app on its store comes just months after the company joined hands with other big-name developers to form the Coalition for App Fairness (CAF). Spotify is among the founding members of this non-profit organization, which seeks to push for “enforcement and reforms, including legal and regulatory changes, to preserve consumer choice and a level playing field for app and game developers that rely on app stores and the most popular gatekeeper platforms.” The coalition was formed back in September this year, a few weeks after Epic Games sued Apple and Google for removing Fortnite from their respective app stores for bypassing the app store fees with direct payments.

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Google is finally preparing to release a Tiles API for Wear OS

In 2019, Google released “Tiles”, a new feature that lets you show small, informative app widget cards on Wear OS smartwatches. Google added Tiles for a handful of things, including Goals, Next event, Forecast, Heart rate, Headlines, and timer, allowing users to easily access important info by swiping left on the watch face. At launch, you could only add 5 Tiles, but with the Wear OS app v2.40, Google raised the limit, letting users add up to 10 Tiles on their smartwatch. Since Tiles was released, smartwatch OEMs like Mobvoi have also built their own Tiles.

However, to this day, Google has never released an official API for Tiles, which would let third-party Wear OS app developers offer their own Tiles. Fed up with the delay, some developers reverse-engineered the internal Tiles API that Google uses in the Wear OS app to create an UnofficialTileAPI. While this has led to several third-party app devs successfully creating Tiles, it’s not recommended to rely on undocumented APIs since they can change at any time, causing breakage. But it appears developers will not have to resort to unofficial ways to build Tiles in a not so distant future.

Finally, nearly a year and a half after the debut of Tiles, it looks like Google is preparing to introduce an official Tiles API. An AOSP commit titled “initial commit of Wear Tiles API” adds the Tiles API to the AndroidX support library.

Initial commit of Wear Tiles API.

This checks in the app-side of the Wear Tiles API. Tests (and testing libs) have not yet been added, but will come in a future CL. This version exists really to start kicking off API reviews.

Once this commit is merged, developers will be able to call this API after updating to the latest AndroidX version.

With the release of the official Tiles API, we should see more developers jumping on board and bringing exciting new Tiles for Wear OS-powered smartwatches. We don’t know when Google plans to release the API publicly. But we’ll be keeping a close eye on the development and sure to let you know if we learn anything new.

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jeudi 17 décembre 2020

Cyberpunk 2077 faces big blow as Sony delists the game from the PlayStation Store

It seems that 2020 is not turning out to be a mixed year for game developer CD Projekt Red. The most awaited game of the year, Cyberpunk 2077 opened to some decent reviews. But the game is now facing the music as Sony delisted the game from the PlayStation Store. Owners of the game are also being given an option to request refunds in case they purchased the digital version. This comes just a few days after Sony had refused its customers a refund, asking them to wait till the game gets fixed.

Following Sony’s latest statement on Thursday, certain users who signed into their PlayStation Network account were given the option of a no-questions-asked refund of their Cyberpunk 2077 purchase. According to the refund page, Sony will first confirm whether a user has purchased Cyberpunk 2077 via the PlayStation Store, after which the refund process will begin.

However, the completion of the refund would vary based on the payment method and financial institution. We can confirm that the PS Store listing for the game can no longer be accessed by users of PS4 or PS5 consoles.

CD Projekt RED disclosed the information to its investors:

The Management Board of CD PROJEKT S.A. with a registered office in Warsaw (hereinafter referred to as “the Company”) hereby publicly discloses the decision of Sony Interactive Entertainment (hereinafter referred to as “SIE”) to remove Cyberpunk 2077 from PlayStation Store until further notice. The decision was undertaken following our discussion with SIE regarding a full refund for all gamers who had purchased Cyberpunk 2077 via PlayStation Store and want a refund at this time. All copies of the game previously purchased digitally on PlayStation Store remain available for use by their respective buyers. Gamers can still buy physical versions of the game in retail and mail order stores. All copies, whether digital or physical, will continue to receive support and updates from the Company.

Cyberpunk 2077 has faced massive backlash from the gaming community, especially older gen console players, who have complained about the game being riddled with various bugs and horrible graphics. Earlier this week, share prices of developer CD Projekt Red had slipped by up to 50% forcing the company to have an emergency meeting with its investors to figure out what went wrong.

Business development SVP for CD Projekt Red, Michal Nowakowski had also confessed that the company had focused resources on the new generation consoles — Xbox Series S/X and PlayStation 5 and were not ready for older-gen consoles (Xbox One X, Xbox One S, and Sony PlayStation 4).

It is more about us looking – as was previously stated – at the PC and next-gen performance rather than current-gen, we definitely did not spend enough time looking at that. I wouldn’t say that we felt any external or internal pressure to launch on the date – other than the normal pressure, which is typical for any release. So that was not the cause

Michal Nowakowski

A letter of apology was also issued by the game developer suggesting that two large patches will be released in the month of January and February which should “fix the most prominent problems gamers are facing on last-gen consoles.” The delisting, however, will greatly impact the game, even though existing customers should be able to access the game if they have purchased it and did not request a refund.

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Google’s Camera Go app for budget phones is rolling out HDR photography support

Google released a trimmed-down version of the Pixel’s Google Camera app, called Google Camera Go, earlier this year in March. At first, the app was quite barebones, and it didn’t include most of the cool features that you’d find in the full-blown Google Camera app. However, Google has been working on bringing support for some of those novel features over the last few months. For instance, back in April this year, we first learned that the company was working on adding HDR support to Google Camera Go. Then in October, the app received Night Mode support, and Google confirmed that it would be adding HDR support in a future update. As promised, the company is now finally rolling out HDR support with the latest Google Camera Go update.

As per a recent tweet from the official Android Twitter handle, HDR support is now rolling out with the latest Google Camera Go update. This will allow budget devices to capture photos “with crisper details and richer color at any time of day.”

Much like the Night Mode update, the latest Google Camera Go release with HDR support should start rolling out to the Nokia 1.3, Wiko Y61, and Wiko Y81 in the coming days. In case you have one of these devices, you should see a new HDR toggle in the app’s interface.

It’s worth mentioning that while you can download the latest Camera Go APK on any Android device running Android 8.0 Oreo or above, you won’t get access to the Night Mode and HDR features. This is due to the fact that these features are only whitelisted for a handful of devices. If you’re interested in learning more about Google Camera Go and its capabilities, do check out our hands-on review of the app by following this link.

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