Huawei P40 to launch in March 2020 with Huawei’s version of Google Mobile Services

Owing to the political situation between Huawei and the USA, the company was forced to release the Mate 30 Pro without the most crucial part of Android — Google Play Services. Huawei had no alternative to the proprietary Google Mobile Services (GMS) for the device and as such, the device took a huge hit in sales. Earlier this year in November though, we got our first look at Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) and HMS Core — the company’s in-house alternative to GMS, consisting of both user-facing apps and background apps. HMS aims to provide users with an experience that’s consistent across devices and independent of the platform update. And much like how GMS is made up of app elements and core elements, the HMS ecosystem comprises of HMS Apps, the HMS Core, and the HMS Capabilities that the Core enables through its available APIs. While HMS still hasn’t made an appearance on any Huawei device yet, a senior official from the company has now revealed that it will be rolled out with the Huawei P40 series next year.

Huawei’s Richard Yu during an interview with the French press in Shenzhen, China. Image: Frandroid

Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Technologies Consumer Business Group, has confirmed to Frandroid that the Huawei P40 will be launched towards the end of March during an event in Paris and it will feature the HMS ecosystem. Yu further revealed that the P40 series will offer users a completely new design, improved imaging props, better performance, and improved AI capabilities. Much like all smartphones launching next year, the Huawei P40 will run Android 10 out of the box with the company’s EMUI 10 skin on top. Interestingly, Yu also promised that the upcoming smartphone will be marketed via the classic distribution channels, operators and resellers included, which suggests that the company is planning a wide-scale release despite the recent setbacks.

---

Source: Frandroid

Featured image: Huawei P30 Pro

The post Huawei P40 to launch in March 2020 with Huawei’s version of Google Mobile Services appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2S3JJNi
via IFTTT

Create a custom accent color on your rooted Android 9 Pie or Android 10 device

Android 10 introduced its own built-in theming option, allowing interested users a way to customize their device to a small extent. While Pixel users get easier access to theming solutions through the Pixel Themes app, other AOSP-based Android 10 users can access some theming features through Developer Options in the Settings menu. These basic theming features include the option to pick a pre-defined accent color, but there are only a handful of options. If you are looking to expand beyond the accent color options provided by default, Accent Color Creator allows rooted users to define their own custom accent color.

Accent Color Creator by XDA Senior Member Akilesh_15 lets you create your own custom accent color. In Android 10, Google created multiple runtime resource overlays (RROs) that replaces (“overlays”) some of the resource values of the Android framework. Each accent color thus has its own RRO APK that replaces the resources of the Android framework with resources from the RRO APK. Accent Color Creator works by building new RRO APKs wherein the user has the ability to define a custom accent color. This APK is then packaged into a Magisk Module to allow for a systemless installation.

The app boasts of the following features:

• You can select colors from your wallpaper, presets in the app or set your own custom color.
• Multiple accents can be created.
• Enable/disable accents.
• Swipe left to remove created accents.

The developer notes that the app requires Android 9 and above, but it could possibly work on Android 8 Oreo as well — though this is untested. The app and its features are also untested on OEM skins like OxygenOS, OneUI, MIUI, and others, but it should work on AOSP-based custom ROMs presuming they haven’t implemented a custom accent color picker already. Do note that uninstalling the app will not revert the custom accent color — you will have to remove the module created by the app, residing at /data/adb/modules/, using TWRP or adb shell with root. The app is also open source.

Accent Color Creator — XDA Discussion Thread

The post Create a custom accent color on your rooted Android 9 Pie or Android 10 device appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2PU5NXS
via IFTTT

Google Assistant can browse the web in Chrome on the Pixel 4

Technology companies have come at digital assistants from many different angles. One approach is to make the assistant interact with your phone for you. This was one of the big selling points of Samsung Bixby when it was first launched. Google Assistant has been more about providing answers and carrying out tasks, but now it can control Chrome on the Pixel 4.

As you may already know, the Pixel 4 (and Pixel 4 XL) have a new version of Google Assistant. At Google I/O, the company showed off how Google Assistant can perform actions inside of apps and it has rolled out to the likes of WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, and many more. The latest to get this more integrated control is the Chrome browser.

Using your voice, the new Google Assistant can do things like open a tab, close a tab, go back, reload a page, bookmark a page, and more. This all works while you’re in Chrome, and Google Assistant is smart enough to know the context. You don’t have to say “open a new tab in Chrome” while you’re using the browser.

To use this feature you will need a few things. You need to have a Pixel 4 with the new Google Assistant enabled, full gesture navigation enabled, and no G Suite accounts on your phone. Then you can enable the flag in Chrome by going to chrome://flags/#direct-actions and switching it to “Enabled.” Check out the commands and video below.

“Hey Google”

• Open a new tab
• Close this tab
• Close all tabs
• Go back
• Go forward
• Reload
• Bookmark this page
• Open history
• Open downloads

Google Chrome: Fast & Secure (Free, Google Play) →

Source: Android Police

The post Google Assistant can browse the web in Chrome on the Pixel 4 appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2YWOXvu
via IFTTT

[Update: Rolling Out] Chrome OS 79 enables media controls on the lock screen

Update (12/17/19 @ 3:50 PM ET): Google has officially announced Chrome OS 79 and the lock screen media controls feature.

Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen Google put an emphasis on bringing more Android-like features to Chrome OS. This has been part of their attempt to make Chrome OS better suited for touchscreen devices such as the Pixel Slate. In August of 2018, Chromebooks started getting lock screen notifications. Now, media controls are also coming to the lock screen.

The screenshot above is from XDA Senior Member Some_Random_Username. It shows media controls on the lock screen in Chrome OS 79 Canary. The user is playing a YouTube video and the media controls (play/pause, skip, FF/rewind, and seek) are available. It also shows a preview of the media and the source URL. In current stable builds, when you are playing media, the controls are not available when the screen is locked.

This is something that has been available on older Chrome OS versions by enabling a flag at chrome://flags#lock-screen-media-controls. However, on newer versions (I’m running Chrome OS 77 Beta), the flag is gone. We expect this to arrive in subsequent channels soon. Small things like this make a big difference in the viability of the OS on media consumption devices. Chrome OS still has a long way to go to be a tablet OS.

---

Update: Rolling Out

Google published its “What’s new in Chrome OS” update and officially showed off lock screen media controls. The feature looks nearly identical to how it did in the previous post with slight alterations to the design. The user profile image and password text box are moved to the side to make room for the media controls. The feature works with YouTube Music, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and “dozens of other apps.” Basically, anything that plays audio on your Chromebook can be controlled here.

The post [Update: Rolling Out] Chrome OS 79 enables media controls on the lock screen appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2Ii04YT
via IFTTT

[Update: New Renders] Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite renders show familiar camera design and S Pen

Update (12/17/19 @ 2:30 PM ET): New renders of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite have been revealed.

With the Galaxy S11 series on the horizon, there are a couple of other interesting Samsung devices showing up. We recently got our first look a the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite (or Galaxy A91) after it was confirmed by an FCC listing. There was also a rumor about a Galaxy Note 10 Lite back in October, and now we’re getting our first look at that device as well.

Like the Galaxy S10 Lite/A91, this device is also going by two names now. @OnLeaks has shared renders of a device that could be called the Galaxy A81 or Galaxy Note 10 Lite. There are only two renders of the device and not a lot of details are visible. We can make out a few key features, however.

First and foremost, the camera arrangement looks very similar to what we’ve seen from the Galaxy S11 series and the Galaxy S10 Lite. According to rumors from Ishan Agarwal, the square housing will contain 3 cameras and a flash, though there’s no word on MP sizes. Speaking of cameras, it seems to have a single centered hole-punch camera on the front.

The second important feature we can see is the S Pen. We can see a 3.5mm headphone jack, speaker grill, and the S Pen docked in the bottom edge. The S Pen is obviously a big part of what makes a Note a Note, and having it in the “Lite” model is great. It will be useful for drawing on the 6.5-6.7-inch mostly flat display. There may also be a fingerprint sensor underneath the display.

There aren’t many other specifications to go on right now. Some rough rumors claim it will be powered by 2018’s Exynos 9810, which was in the Galaxy Note 9 series. That would be a definite step down from the flagship Galaxy Note 10 and reason for the “Lite” name tag. It may also launch with 6GB of RAM and Android 10.

Source: 91mobiles

---

Update: New Renders

We previously only saw the dark, mysterious renders of the Galaxy Note 10 Lite above, but today we’re getting a much clearer look. We can see that this is a Note 10 with a flat display and a centered hole punch. The bezels are very slim on all sides of the display as well, but it clearly does not have curved display edges. The display is still OLED as you would expect.

Once again, on the back we see the square camera housing with 3 cameras and a flash. The main camera may be 48MPs, but we don’t know much about them yet. One camera could also be a macro/zoom lens. The Snapdragon 855 is expected to be the processor. The S Pen is said to be upgraded with Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity as well. The colors are black, silver, and red, and the price could be around 670 euros in Germany.

Source: winfuture

The post [Update: New Renders] Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite renders show familiar camera design and S Pen appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/361rdJ6
via IFTTT

Samsung unveils entry-level Galaxy A01 with Infinity-V display and 128GB of storage

If you’ve been following Samsung news lately, you know the company has been focusing a lot of effort on the A-series. Last week, we saw the Galaxy A71 and Galaxy A51 get officially announced. The A-series has traditionally been for mid-range to low-end phones with some features that make them stand out from other “cheap” devices. Today, Samsung very quietly announced another A-series device: the Galaxy A01.

The Samsung Galaxy A01 is a device we didn’t hear anything about before it was announced. The company itself didn’t give much fanfare to the device either, simply publishing the product page on its website. That’s a shame, though, because the device seems to be pretty nice, actually. It has a cheaper body and display, but internals that make up for it.

Let’s start with the front. The Galaxy A01 features a 5.7-inch 720p display with a waterdrop “Infinity-V” notch. This is certainly one of Samsung’s lower-end displays as Super AMOLED is not mentioned. The notch houses the 5MP front-facing camera. Sticking with the cameras, there are two on the back: a 13MP main camera and a 2MP depth sensor.

Inside the Galaxy A01 is an octa-core Quad 1.95 GHz + Quad 1.45GHz processor with 6/8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. That’s a really nice amount of storage for a low-end phone, plus you can expand it with a microSD card. The battery is 3,000 mAh and it does not appear to have a fingerprint scanner. Samsung did not share pricing or release date information, but we can see the device will be available in Red, Blue, and Black.

Galaxy A01
Processor		Octa Core (Quad 1.95 GHz + Quad 1.45 GHz)
Body		146.3 x 70.86 x 8.34mm
Display*		5.7-inch HD+ Infinity-V display
Camera	Rear	Main: 13 MP (F2.2) Depth: 2 MP (F2.4)
	Front	Selfie: 5 MP (F2.0)
Battery		3,000mAh (typical)**
Memory***		6 / 8GB RAM 128GB Internal Storage Micro SD slot (up to 512 GB)
SIM		3 slot: 2 Nano SIM + MicroSD
Sensor		Proximity, Light, Accelerometer
FM Radio		Yes
Color		Black, Blue, Red

The post Samsung unveils entry-level Galaxy A01 with Infinity-V display and 128GB of storage appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2qZK9Ji
via IFTTT

Take an Extra 15% Off These Last Minute Gift Ideas

Whether you are looking for new headphones or a savvy upgrade to your home security, now is a good time to buy. These deals on tech at the XDA Developers Depot are an extra 15% off now — make sure to use code MerrySave15 to get the prices below.

Kharbon IP67 Wireless Earbuds

These impressive earbuds offer 150 hours of battery life, and they’re waterproof and use Bluetooth 5.0 for an ultra-reliable connection. Worth $200, they are now $67.15 with the code MerrySave15.

3-in-1 Wireless Power Bank for Apple Watch, iOS & AirPods

This compact 5,200 mAh power bank has a USB port and wireless charging, meaning you can charge your AirPods, iPhone and Apple Watch on the go. Normally $99.99, it is now just $34 with code MerrySave15.

VIZIO SP30-E0 SmartCast™ Crave Go™ Wireless Speaker

Delivering 88dB of crisp audio through custom-crafted drivers, this wireless speaker provides exceptional sound for six hours straight. It also works as part of a multi-room setup. Worth $199.99, the Crave Go is now $55.25 with code MerrySave15.

BentoStack Charge

Inspired by Japanese lunch boxes, this beautiful organizer keeps your Apple accessories safe. It doubles as a wireless charger for your devices. Originally $99.95, the BentoStack Charge is now $68 with code MerrySave15.

Prima 1080p HD Pocket Projector

It only measures six inches long, but the Prima projector can provide a 200-inch display at full HD resolution. It even has a 64-bit quad-core processor on board to run Android. Normally $799, the projector is now just $238 with the code MerrySave15.

PaMu Slide Bluetooth 5.0 In-Ear Headphones with Wireless Charger

Offering 10 hours of powerful sound, the PaMu Slide headphones are great for everyday listening. They are also sweat-resistant, making them suited to workouts. Worth $199, they are now $85 with a wireless charger when you use the code MerrySave15.

KeySmart Pro with Tile Smart Location

This space-saving device keeps your keys flat and organized. It comes with a Bluetooth tag, which lets you track down your keys. Usually $59.99, KeySmart Pro is now $51 with the code MerrySave15.

blurams Dome Pro 1080p Security Camera

This advanced security camera can alert you when an unknown person enters your home. The Dome Pro also has night vision for 24-hour coverage. Normally priced at $59.99, it is now just $42.50 with code MerrySave15.

iPM World 360-Degree 1080p Wireless IP Security Camera

This ingenious camera lets you check on your home from anywhere in the world. It swivels through 360 degrees to cover the whole room. Worth $129.99, the camera is now just $42.50 with the code.

Little Wonder Solo Stereo Multi Connect Bluetooth Speaker

This palm-sized speaker is perfect for taking out. You get four hours of battery life, and you can connect several Little Wonders together for stereo sound. Normally $69.95, they are now $17 each with code MerrySave15.

NetGear Arlo VMC3030-100NAR HD Security Camera (Refurbished)

This wireless security camera has intelligent facial recognition and night vision technology, along with seven days of cloud storage. Order now for $55.25 (with code MerrySave15) to get a refurbished model, worth $159.99.

RevolCam: The Multi-Lens Photo Revolution for Smartphones

With three unique lenses, a powerful LED light and a selfie mirror, RevolCam is the ultimate upgrade for smartphone photography. It retails for $59, but you can get it now for $34 with code MerrySave15.

1Voice AXR Active Noise-Cancelling Bluetooth Headphones

The 1Voice headphones block 90% of outside distractions with active noise cancellation, and they provide 12 hours of playtime. Usually priced at $199.99, they are now $42.50 with code MerrySave15.

Insta Heater 600W Plug-In Wall Heater

This portable heater offers instant heat whenever you need it. You simply plug it in to any wall socket to feel the warm glow. Worth $36.99, the Insta Heater is now just $21.25 with code MerrySave15.

Prices subject to change

Grab these top-sellers at deep discounts today!

The post Take an Extra 15% Off These Last Minute Gift Ideas appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2RWHviG
via IFTTT