December 2019 security patches roll out with Pixel Themes, gesture navigation in 3rd-party launchers, & more

Today is the first Monday of December, which means Google is rolling out its monthly Android security patches. These monthly updates are pretty random in what features are included. Some months there’s nothing of note, while other months include some important things. December has brought a treasure trove of features to the Pixel family.

Typically, Google includes a chart for the “functional patches” on the Pixel Security Bulletin page. However, it looks like they will now be posting those notes on the Pixel Community Forum. A number of improvements have been outlined for the Pixel 4, Pixel 4 XL, Pixel 3a, Pixel 3a XL, Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL, Pixel 2, and Pixel 2 XL.

This chart, however, doesn’t begin to list all of the features that users have discovered in the December 2019 Android security patches. Live Captions, gesture navigation for third-party launchers, Pixel Themes, and the swipe-down gesture for notifications for the Pixel Launcher, have all been spotted on older Pixel phones. These were features that exclusively launched on the Pixel 4. The OG Pixel and Pixel XL, unfortunately, have not gotten any of the features.

It should also be noted that the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL are oddly not getting the December Android security patch this week. Google says it will be rolling out next week, and as we can see in the chart above, the Pixel Wallet may finally arrive. This was a previously discovered feature that wasn’t present at the launch. And to the surprise of no one, the Essential Phone is receiving the update today as well.

Download Factory Images | Download OTA Images

Android Security Bulletin | Pixel Update Bulletin

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T-Mobile’s 5G network goes live, OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition available on December 6th

Last month, T-Mobile announced its plans for rolling out its 5G network (among other post-Sprint merger plans). Today, the company went ahead and flipped the switch for its 5G network, though no one can actually use it until later this week. The network currently covers “200 million people” in the US and the OnePlus 7 Pro McLaren Edition and Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G will be available on Friday.

This nationwide rollout is a lower form of 6G than what we’ve seen from the likes of Verizon, but that comes with some advantages. T-Mobile’s 600MHz spectrum is “low-band” 5G, which means it’s essentially using the same airwaves as LTE, but this isn’t a “5G E” situation. T-Mobile’s 5G is truly 5G, just not the fastest version right now. The big benefit to T-Mobile’s network is much farther range and better coverage.

So while you’re going to hear T-Mobile do a lot of boasting about being the first with “nationwide” 5G coverage, they won’t be bragging about speed. To be honest, for most people, that’s probably a fair trade-off. The company has, however, already started working on its 5G network with the faster and more limited mmWave technology in a few cities.

The OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren Edition and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G are available for pre-order today online and in T-Mobile stores on December 6th. The OnePlus 7T Pro is going for $899 while the Note 10+ will cost you $1,299. These phones do not support mmWave, so you’ll never be able to access T-Mobile’s faster 5G network.

Source: T-Mobile

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Airplane Mode may finally stop shutting down Bluetooth audio, starting with Android 11 R

Airplane mode is a feature that has been around in phones for a very long time. The name comes from the idea that the radios in phones can interfere with airplanes, so this allows you to turn them off without powering down the phone completely. Airplane mode has other uses, of course, but it’s not a terribly nuanced tool: one tap kills all radios. However, in Android 11 R, it may get a little smarter.

This blanket approach can be annoying if you want to quickly disable cellular and Wi-Fi, but you’re listening to music over Bluetooth. If you’re familiar with ADB, there’s already a method for customizing which radios are turned off with airplane mode. Of course, that’s not a consumer-facing feature and not something most people will bother with. A new commit in the AOSP Gerrit is titled “Context-aware Bluetooth airplane mode” and it sounds like a much-requested feature.

Do not automatically turn off Bluetooth when airplane mode is turned on and Bluetooth is in one of the following situations:

1. 1. Bluetooth A2DP is connected.
   2. Bluetooth Hearing Aid profile is connected.

Android will be smart enough to realize that if you’re currently using Bluetooth you probably don’t want to disable it when toggling airplane mode on. “A2DP” is the profile used for most Bluetooth earbuds and headsets for media streaming. The commit has not been merged yet, but we can expect to see it in Android 11 R, the next major version of the OS. This is a small thing but it can make a big difference if you use airplane mode and Bluetooth a lot.

Thanks to XDA Recognized Developer luca020400 for the tip!

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6 Best VPN Deals on the Web for Cyber Monday

If you want to get better online privacy, now is a good time to go shopping. Here are some of the best VPN deals available this Cyber Monday — now with 40% off when you use code BFSAVE40 at the XDA Developers Depot.

Windscribe VPN Pro 

This highly-rated service has a strict no-logging policy, and you can sign up without an email address. Along with standard VPN features, Windscribe Pro helps you block ads and online trackers. Worth $324, three years of service is now $35.99 with the code BFSAVE40. 

Ivacy Lifetime Subscription

For complete coverage of all your devices, look no further than Ivacy. With 1,000 servers in over 100 locations and 256-bit encryption, this VPN lets you stay anonymous and unlock great content. 

You can get a lifetime subscription now covering 10 devices for $35.99 (worth $2,338). You can get the same subscription with a NAT firewall add-on for $23.99 (worth $1,254) or a five-year standalone subscription for $11.99 (worth $1,194) with code BFSAVE40.

VeePN: Lifetime Subscription

With 2500 servers meticulously located in 48 locations, and military-grade AES 256-bit encryption, VeePN offers incredible protection. The service also has a built-in kill switch, a strict no-logging policy, and a choice of VPN protocols. 

Order now for $23.99 to get lifetime protection on 10 devices, worth $1,749.75. You can also get three years of service for $15.59 (worth $139.98) or lifetime service on one device for $11.99 (worth $349.95).

VPNSecure: Lifetime Subscription

Considered one of the best VPN providers around, VPNSecure offers reliable privacy protection and secure encryption. It works on all your devices, with DNS leak fixes, kill switches, and more. Worth $900, lifetime subscriptions are now only $23.99 with code BFSAVE40.

KeepSolid VPN Unlimited: Lifetime Subscription

This award-winning VPN offers fast connections around the world, with over 400 servers in 80 locations. It is perfect for streaming on sites like Hulu and iPlayer, with no logging and unlimited bandwidth. Order now for $23.40 (with code BFSAVE40) to get a lifetime subscription, worth $499.99.

NordVPN Subscriptions

With double data SSL-based 2048-bit encryption, NordVPN takes security to the extreme. This VPN also provides a network of 3,521 server locations in 61 different countries, with impressive connection speeds. You can get a one-year subscription now for $36 (worth $286.80) or two years for $71.99 with code BFSAVE40.

Prices subject to change.

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Samsung Theme Park is a Good Lock module that lets you theme One UI

Samsung’s Good Lock is a one-stop-shop for all your One UI customization needs. The app features several useful modules that let you personalize your phone’s UI and make it your own. Earlier this year in April, Samsung updated the Good Lock modules to bring a new slim recent apps section in the TaskChanger and Quick tools and actions in One Hand Operation+, among other things. Now, Samsung has added yet another module called Theme Park that allows you to create your own custom themes.

The new Theme Park module from Samsung was first spotted by Reddit user u/prabhavtiwari and it lets you create personalized themes depending on your current wallpaper. Using the new module is fairly simple, you just need to tap on the Design new theme button and the module automatically picks up the main colors from the wallpaper you’re currently using.

You can then pick a color from the available options and the module will design a new theme based on that color. The Style option lets you choose a color palette for all the UI elements based on the color you just picked and the Icon option lets you choose the icon, icon label, and tray colors. The best part about Theme Park is the fact that you see a live preview of the custom theme so that you can easily tweak it as you go.

Once you’re satisfied with your creation, you can tap on the Save button at the top to save your new theme and the module then automatically installs the new theme on your device. If all of this sounds interesting, you should download Theme Park right away and give it a whirl. The module is available on the Samsung Galaxy Store and it works on most devices running One UI. In case you face any issues running the module on your phone, you can also check out NiceLock. With NiceLock, you’ll be able to download and manage Good Lock modules as APKs and install them manually on your device.

Download Samsung Theme Park from the Samsung Galaxy Store

Download Samsung Theme Park from APKMirror

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Via: Reddit

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Realme 1, U1, C1 and Realme 2 will not be updated to ColorOS 7 and Android 10

Late last month, Realme revealed the ColorOS 7 release timeline for a few of its devices. As per the schedule, the Realme 3 Pro, XT, X, 5 Pro, and X2 Pro will get ColorOS 7 based on Android 10 in the first quarter of 2020, with the Realme 3, 3i, 5, 5s, and 2 Pro to follow in the second quarter. Lastly, the Realme C2 was scheduled to get the update in Q3, 2020. The company has since opened ColorOS 7 beta recruitment for its flagship X2 Pro, with plans to roll out the stable update by January 2020. At the time, the company didn’t reveal whether the update would be released to older devices. But now, it has officially announced that the Realme 1, 2 U1, and C1 won’t be receiving the ColorOS 7 update.

As reported by The Mobile Indian, in a recent tweet Realme has confirmed that the aforementioned devices won’t be receiving the Android 10 update. The tweet came from the company’s official support handle for the Indian region in response to a query from a user. This new information falls partially in line with a post on the Realme Community from earlier this year, in which an admin stated that the Android 10 update probably won’t be released for the Realme 1 and 2 Pro. Thankfully though, the recently released update timeline confirms that the Realme 2 Pro will receive the update sometime in June next year. However, the Realme 1, 2, U1 and C1 won’t get the same treatment. These four devices were initially released with Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box and have already received ColorOS updates based on Android 9 Pie.

Hi Partha,
We would like to inform you that ColorOS 7 based on Android 10 update will not be rolled out for realme 1/ realme U1/ realme C1/ realme 2.

— realme India Support (@realmecareIN) November 29, 2019

It’s worth noting that ColorOS 7 on Realme devices will offer a closer to stock Android experience, unlike the version released on OPPO devices. As of now, the company has released no further information in this regard. However, since the company has already started ColorOS 7 beta recruitment for the Realme X2 Pro we expect to learn more about these changes in the next couple of weeks.

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Via: TheMobileIndian

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Xiaomi prepares to add document and ID card scanning, video tags, and HEIC support to MIUI 11’s Camera

Back in September this year, Xiaomi first unveiled MIUI 11 at a launch event in China. The company’s updated Android skin introduced a ton of new features and visual improvements, including a completely redesigned UI, new font, updated Always-On Display, and more. While Xiaomi has already rolled out a stable version of MIUI 11 to a number of Xiaomi and Redmi devices, it seems like the company plans to introduce even more new features to the software.

MIUI 11 nightlies from the last couple of weeks contain evidence of several new features for the MIUI camera app that are currently in development. Here’s a brief rundown of all the new features we’ve managed to unearth:

Video Tagging

Strings of code in a recent MIUI 11 nightly hint at a feature called “Video Tagging” (translated) that will allow you to set a bookmark while recording a video. Upon playing the recorded video in the gallery app (presumably, only the stock MIUI Gallery app) you’ll get the option to skip directly to the bookmark. This new feature could come in handy while recording lectures/interviews as it will let you tag specific parts of the recording for easier editing later on. The description for this feature reads “click ‘mark’ in the video, you can check the mark position during playback” (translated).

Document and ID Card Scanning

Xiaomi is also prepping up to add a document and ID card scanner to the MIUI camera app that will allow you to scan various documents. The new “document mode” will let you save images in black and white or “strengthen” them, in a bid to make the text more legible. A separate “ID Copy Mode” has also been discovered which is designed specifically to scan ID cards. The mode includes support for double-sided shooting and it can create a 1:1 copy of an A4 ID card.

HEIC Support

The MIUI camera app will also get support for HEIF/HEIC file formats for images. The high-efficiency file format has been designed to drastically reduce the size of images, when compared to PNG or JPG formats, without losing much detail and it will let you store more images in the same amount of space. You will get the option to choose the format preference within the camera settings and the option will be titled “HEIC Format”. The description for the new setting reads “Capture photos in high-efficiency HEIF format.”

As of now, we have no information on when these features will go live in the MIUI 11 Camera app. However, since the code has already started appearing in the nightlies, it shouldn’t be long before we see the features in action in a beta release.

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