Android users may be spared some headaches, with Google Play now warning them before installing buggy apps.
First spotted by Android Police, Mishaal Rahman tweeted screenshots of a Google Play dialog that warns users when an app they’re about to download has not been performing well on similar hardware.
The feature is a nice addition to the Play Store and should save users some irritation.
While it’s no secret Apple and Google copy each other’s best features, it comes as something of a surprise that Google is working on an AirTag competitor.
Apple’s AirTag has been one of the company’s most controversial products, being called “the weapon of choice of stalkers and abusers,” with at least two stalking cases involving AirTags ending in murder. The company is currently facing a class-action lawsuit over the diminutive trackers.
Despite the controversy, Google apparently wants in on the action, and is reportedly planning to launch its own smart tracker, codenamed “grogu,” according to developer and leaker Kuba Wojciechowski.
Of course, one of the things that makes AirTag work as well as it does is Apple’s Find My network, which uses the installed base of Apple devices help pinpoint a device’s location.
According to Android Police, Google appears to be working on its own version of the Find My network, which would be a pivotal component to the success of an AirTag competitor.
Aside from the implications of yet another tracker that can be easily abused by stalkers, there’s also the inherent privacy concerns surrounding Google — of all companies — building yet more tracking technology. The company already hoovers up vast quantities of data, making the prospect of the company being able to collect even more tracking data less than appealing.
While following Apple’s lead is often a lucrative business, one can’t help but question the wisdom of Google following it in this specific direction, especially given the myriad of lawsuits Google regularly faces over privacy.
TikTok may be ready to give up its efforts to appease US officials in the wake of repeated privacy issues and violations.
TikTok has been under fire for years, stumbling from one privacy misstep to another. There have also been ongoing concerns that TikTok’s parent, ByteDance, poses a national security risk as a result of being based in China. The Trump administration unsuccessfully tried to force ByteDance to sell off TikTok’s US assets.
In an effort to appease US officials, TikTok was willing to undergo external audits to prove its algorithms were not influenced by Beijing, with Oracle tasked with performing the audits.
According to Reuters, via Android Police, TikTok appears to be backing away from that strategy. The company was interviewing potential consultants to help it enforce any deal the US might impose, but has since put its recruitment efforts on hold for the time being.
The company said the holdup is a result of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States not yet approving any deal. The company also says it is instead focusing on candidates that would not require approval by the CFIUS.
In the wake of revelations that ByteDance used TikTok to surveil American journalists, the platform’s situation has gone from bad to worse. Multiple states and the House of Representatives have banned the platform from government-owned devices, and many are calling for an outright ban of the app.
Whatever TikTok’s motivations, hiring experts that don’t require CFIUS approval is unlikely to win the company any goodwill among regulators and legislators.
Some users are not happy with Google’s decision to stop supporting the Pixel 3, and there appears to be no technical reason for the decision.
Google has been working to build support for its line of smartphones, with the recently released Pixel 6 and 6 Pro sporting the company’s Tensor chip. One of the benefits Google touted about the Tensor was the five years of security updates and support the company would provide, something very uncommon in the Android world.
Earlier versions of the Pixel, however, still run Qualcomm’s Snapdragon line of processors, and Google only ever committed to three years of updates for those devices. With Android 12, the 2018 flagship Pixel 3 and 3 XL reached the end of their life, and did not receive the update.
According to Ryne Hager, over at Android Police, there’s no technical reason why Google needed to abandon the Pixel 3, and it appears the company simply decided it had met its minimum obligation and didn’t want to extend it.
“With these options for updates available, there’s only one conclusion to draw: Google just doesn’t want to keep updating the Pixel 3,” writes Hager. “That three-year promise has been satisfied, and it’s not making more money from Pixel 3 customers. Why go above and beyond?”
Google went all-out with the Pixel 6 in an effort to grab more market share. Perhaps the company would also do well to listen to the feedback it’s receiving about the Pixel 3, and compare its policies to Apple’s. Apple recently released iOS 15, including support for devices as old as the iPhone 6S from 2015.
If Google really wants to be a serious hardware player, it needs to appreciate that customers remember when companies go above and beyond, as Apple has done in its support for older models, instead of doing the bare minimum to make a buck and move on.
Just a month after OnwardMobility reassured prospective customers it was still working on a revived Blackberry, new reports indicate the project is vaporware.
OnwardMobility acquired the rights to make Blackberry phones in August 2020, after TCL lost the license. Since then, the company has teased a 5G-equipped Blackberry phone, complete with a physical keyboard, the likes of which made the brand famous.
Unfortunately, months passed with no visible progress being made, prompting the company to reassure prospective buyers that it was still making progress.
To all of you who have patiently waited so long for updates from OnwardMobility, we are humbly aware that we owe you some form of communication as we enter 2022. And to misquote Mark Twain, as so many do, “Contrary to popular belief, we are not dead.”
It would appear, however, the above statement is not true. According to CrackBerry, multiple sources have confirmed the project is dead. Android Police was also able to confirm the rumors.
Interestingly, at the end of January, Blackberry sold off roughly $600 million in patents related to its legacy phone business. It’s unclear what role this may have played in the demise of the OnwardMobility project, but it seems likely the two events are related. It’s possible Blackberry pulled OnwardMobility’s license so they could offload the patents, or they may have decided to sell the patents once it became apparent OnwardMobility couldn’t deliver.
This wouldn’t the first time the company has ended a contract with a third-party maker of Blackberry-branded phones. Perhaps the company just decided the whole endeavor was more trouble than it was worth, and took multiple steps to permanently end its involvement in the phone industry.
Qualcomm is looking to enter the consumer market with an Android-powered Nintendo Switch-like device.
Qualcomm is primarily known for creating semiconductors and modems, products that are used by smartphone makers around the world. As such, the company’s products power some of the most popular devices in the world, but the company has yet to venture into consumer territory.
According to Android Police, that’s about to change, with the company preparing to unveil a Nintendo Switch knockoff, running Android. Since the device will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors, it will help the company showcase its processors outside of traditional phones.
Android Police says the device’s form factor will specifically allow Qualcomm to show off Snapdragon’s performance.
The device, which we were able to view non-final images of but cannot share, is immediately familiar to anyone who owns a Switch. Detachable “joycon” style controllers are on the left and right sides of the core console, which resembles a thicker, bulkier smartphone. There’s a good reason for that: the company believes that the added thermal headroom a thicker design affords will make its processor run faster and significantly more efficiently than a modern ultra-thin smartphone. Qualcomm is also using that space to pack in a large 6000mAh battery that will be equipped with its Quick Charge technology. According to our source, Qualcomm is using a premium supplier in the controller space to design and manufacture the gamepads, though we were unable to verify the name of that supplier.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon consistently plays second fiddle to Apple’s custom silicon, in terms of performance, although both are based on Arm designs. Showcasing the Snapdragon in a form factor that will allow it to achieve its full potential could be a good move for Qualcomm.
T-Mobile will soon require all phones on its network to support 4G Voice over LTE (VoLTE) in an effort to free up spectrum.
Some US carriers still support older protocols, such as 3G, despite how ubiquitous 4G has become. Supporting those older protocols, however, ties up valuable spectrum that can be used to enhance 4G coverage, as well as help with 5G rollouts.
In an effort to free up some of that spectrum, T-Mobile plans on requiring all new phones activated on its network to support VoLTE by August 4. A document Android Police obtained also indicates that older devices will no longer work on the magenta carrier by January 2021.
While T-Mobile did not confirm the dates listed in the document, they did give the following statement to Android Police:
”We’re making great progress building a truly transformative nationwide 5G network. As part of that, we will be phasing out some older technologies over time to free up even more capacity for LTE and 5G. In preparation for that and to give customers the best experience, those activating new lines at T-Mobile will need a VoLTE capable device, which is all we’ve offered for years now and represents the overwhelming majority of devices on the network.”
Verizon and AT&T are both taking similar measures to retire their older networks. In the race to 5G, spectrum is the most valuable commodity, and retiring older technologies will help the carriers and their customers move forward.
Google News users who rely on the service for their digital magazine subscriptions will need to find another source, according to Android Police.
Google has been sending out emails to current subscribers to let them know there will be no new magazines form this point forward. Users with active subscriptions can expect a refund within the next month or so. On the plus side, existing magazine subscriptions will not be deleted, so users will at least be able to browse their collections.
Unfortunately, if users want to continue receiving digital magazines, they will need to find another service or individually subscribe to each magazine.
Per Android Police, here’s a copy of the email Google sent out:
“Subject: To all current Magazine Paid Subscribers
Hi there,
This notification is to inform you that we’re discontinuing print-replica magazines in Google News.
This means you won’t be able to purchase new print-replica magazine issues or renew your subscription via Google News. However, you’ll continue to have access to all issues you previously subscribed to in the Google News app, in the Following or Favorites tab, depending on your app version. To continue to read the latest articles, we encourage you to search for that publication in Google News, or visit the publication’s website:
[list of subscriptions]
Your last payment for your subscription(s) will be refunded. Most refunds are completed within 30 business days. The time it takes for the refund to appear depends on how you paid. If your refund is taking longer than expected, you can check the refund status in your Google Payments account. If you have not received your refund after reviewing the respective timelines in the resources above, please contact us and we’ll look into this for you.
We apologize if this causes any inconvenience. Thank you for your support.
Google News team“
Last week reports started surfacing of what appeared to be a data wiping bug in version 79 of Google Chrome for Android. Following a fix, Google has resumed the rollout.
The issue had to do with Chrome acting as WebView in the most recent versions of Android. Third-party apps that access the web often use Chrome as the rendering engine, rather than bundling one of their own.
According to Android Police, “when you log in with a web page inside an app, or use browsers like DuckDuckGo that lack their own internal rendering engine, Chrome is responsible for loading that content. Some Android apps actually run entirely inside WebView, such as applications built with Apache Cordova (PhoneGap) or packaged web apps like Twitter Lite.
“One of the changes in Chrome 79 is that the location where web data is stored was updated. However, as one comment on a Chromium bug page pointed out, data from localStorage and WebSQL — two types of storage commonly used by web apps and packaged apps — wasn’t migrated properly.
“Long story short, when devices were updated to Chrome 79, web apps and WebView applications had some (or all) local data deleted. While the data is still technically intact, since Chrome didn’t delete old data after the migration, there’s no way to access it right now.”
The new update addresses this issue and properly migrates the data to the new location. If a user upgraded to the broken version 79, any new data saved to the new location will be overwritten with the original data from pre-79 versions of Chrome. In the event important data was saved to the new location with the broken update, that data can still be accessed and recovered if needed.
This fix will be a welcome relief to users who originally thought their data was gone.