[ad_1]
Things move fast in the Android world, and no one will blame you if you’re a little behind on the latest happenings. Just this week, Google is gearing up to launch what is likely the world’s largest network of location-aware devices, and that doesn’t include all of the Android 15 developments that are being rolled out piecemeal. A strange trend of old apps resurfacing has begun. Although it has taken shape over the past seven days, recent firmware updates from Android’s two biggest companies were less than perfect. Oh, and wouldn’t you know it? In his top five headlines for Android this week, Google has removed another app.
Check out last week’s biggest Android headlines here
In this week’s news, Gemini infects new host and Galaxy AI goes mainstream
A fan favorite makes a comeback
Back in 2015, when the leading Android gallery app QuickPic was acquired by adware merchant Cheetah Mobile, opportunistic developers scrambled to fill the void. One of his apps that appeared this time was Francisco Franco’s Focus gallery. After some time, the developer released an incredibly lightweight version of this app called Focus Go, which aims to display your camera roll without any hassle.The app made a comeback this week, and Franco admitted he had it. I’m secretly rewriting the app from scratch. weekend. A new free version is now available on the Play Store, and surprisingly, it’s just one of a handful of fan-favorite apps returning this week.
Lawnchair, the popular open source launcher, moved to version 14 this week after almost two years of silence. The home screen app has been reworked to utilize Android 14’s Launcher 3 as a base, adding QuickSwitch support and Smartspacer integration in the process. Meanwhile, the app he seemingly left Android alone for nearly a decade is back, as Instapaper has given it a complete overhaul to go along with his first iOS app in a decade.
One of the best Android launchers is back with a big update
Lawnchair 14 Beta features QuickSwitch support for Android 10-14, global search, and more.
Phone thieves are staring at a billion devices
Earlier this week, some beta users discovered new settings for Google’s upgraded “Find My Device” network. This will give Android device owners the ability to better track their phones, tablets, and accessories with features like offline location and power-off find. This should put Google’s service on par with Apple’s “Find My” app, and could even surpass its effectiveness with potentially over a billion devices in his network.
We also learned that the launch was imminent this week, as Google sent an email to a select few Android users informing them that the Find My Device network was scheduled to launch “within three days.” . Based on timing, the debut of this feature will be his Sunday, April 7th. But we think there may be some time zone shenanigans at play here, making a Monday, April 8th launch more likely. When it actually rolls out, it could eventually be complemented by new features in Android 15 that automatically enable after you turn off Bluetooth. This may sound like a dirty ploy to drain your battery, but since the network is powered by Bluetooth, some sacrifices should be acceptable for the greater good.
Android 15 will automatically enable Bluetooth and may power Google’s Find My Device network
Upgraded Find My Device network coming soon, but requires Bluetooth to work
Android 15 might not be so boring after all
Android 15 has been available as a developer preview since just after Valentine’s Day, but we didn’t know much about the features it was adding until the past few weeks. Over the past seven days, we’ve learned that there may be a new adaptive timeout feature that can save battery while improving security. We also heard about new readability improvements to Material U dynamic themes and a new set of status bars. icon.
But these were relatively minor compared to the next few Android 15 features we learned about this week. As an example, Google appears to be preparing a Samsung DeX-like desktop mode for Pixel smartphones. Additionally, the new Private Spaces feature, which includes the ability to hide sensitive apps and notifications, appears to be nearing completion. And in the biggest visual change spotted so far, the Volume panel, with its pill-shaped slider and set of expandable controls, appears to be ready for a major makeover.
Android 15 brings some big changes to the volume panel
Android 15 DP2 enables pill-shaped slider by default
March update causes April issues
Updates and new features are always fun, but they don’t always work perfectly. This week, Galaxy S23 users are complaining about a glitch in the fingerprint reader after installing the One UI 6.1 update, which brought Galaxy AI features and many other benefits. There’s no word yet on a fix, but these devices should eventually receive the April 2024 security patch, so there’s reason to be hopeful.
Meanwhile, Pixel users are facing connectivity issues after the March 2024 security patch, and even though most of the affected models have been released with the April patch, fixes for these issues are still pending. It’s not mentioned in the changelog. Meanwhile, his June Pixel Feature Drop, currently in beta testing as Android 14 QPR3, was updated this week with a long list of bug fixes. Let’s hope it’s better than what was introduced.
Some Pixel owners are experiencing network issues after Google’s March 2024 update
Pixel 7 and 8 Series devices don’t receive calls or text messages for an extended period of time
Google Podcasts dies a slow and painful death
Due to Google Podcasts’ short attention span and new victims, April 2nd is the official shutdown date for Google Podcasts in the United States. While the app will survive in other countries for at least a few more months, despised users in Google’s home market learned earlier in the week that the shutdown message pointing to YouTube Music could simply be ignored. , got a slight reprieve. , you can say a final goodbye to your beloved podcast app.
However, the reprieve didn’t last long, as the app stopped working on April 4th and the website was completely shut down by April 5th. Interestingly, Google’s own podcasts don’t seem to be ready yet either. As of the closure date, it is available on YouTube Music.
Google Podcasts is retired, but Google’s own podcasts are no longer on YouTube Music
You can’t make this up
[ad_2]
Source link
