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lundi 23 décembre 2019

[Update 2: 2020 Stamps rolling out] Google Pay (Tez) for India prepares to add 2020 stamp rewards, One-Time Mandates, and Stories for merchants

Update 2 (12/23/19 @ 3:12 AM ET): 2020 stamp rewards are now rolling out on Google Pay (Tez) for India.

Update (12/18/19 @ 1:40 AM ET): We now have some screenshots of the upcoming 2020 stamps as well as of the tokenized cards. Scroll to the bottom for more information. The article as published on December 12, 2019, is preserved as below.

Google Pay is Google’s unified payment platform, but the company also has an app with the same name but different functionality for users in India. This India-only Google Pay is a rebrand of the erstwhile Google Tez, and the app has gone on to add more functionalities after the rebranding. We last spotted Google Pay (Tez) preparing to add gold gifting options for its users in India. Now, the app is preparing to bring stamp rewards for 2020, One-Time Mandates, and stories for merchants.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.

Google Pay (Tez) 49.0.003_RC05 contains new strings that indicate that Google is working on some new features.

Google Pay — 2020 Stamp Rewards

Google managed to strike gold with its Diwali stamp rewards campaign during the recent festive season in India. Google Pay presented users with the task of collecting 5 Diwali-themed stamps, promising an assured payout of ₹251 ($3.5) and a chance towards winning the grand prize of ₹1,00,000 ($1,400).

Some of these stamps could be earned by scanning Diwali items around you, while some others like the Rangoli and Flower could be earned by making bill payments and other merchant transactions within the app. You could also gift stamps to other users, and request one from them. Google also added a leaderboard towards the end, essentially making the whole experience a game of collecting stamps. The end result of this campaign was that it really clicked with the urban Indian audience and went viral for positive reasons as users playfully jostled to collect all the stamps, earn their assured prize and also participate towards the grand prize. Google did not release any metrics for this campaign, but from observation around on social media and my own surroundings, this campaign did push Google Pay as a preferred payment method, if only for the campaign period.

Now, Google is aiming to replicate some of that same success with the New Year, as strings indicate a similar campaign in the works for 2020. These are the new strings added to v49 of Google Pay (Tez):

<string name="adcatcher_ui_listening_description_1_with_youtube_link_2020">"Catch an ad to collect a reward! Just stay on this page when you're listening to a Google Pay ad on TV or Google India's %1$s playlist."</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_listening_description_2_2020">"Open the Youtube playlist on a different device to listen to it now. The microphone only listens on this On-Air page, and audio never leaves your device."</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_daily_limit_action">Got it</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_daily_limit_title">"You've reached the daily limit"</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_general_error_action">Try again</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_general_error_description">Try again in a short while.</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_general_error_title">Something went wrong</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_success_action">Keep playing</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_success_description">"Congrats, you've collected a 2020 stamp!"</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_success_title">1 %1$s</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_timeout_action">Try again</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_timeout_description">"We couldn't find the number 2020 with the audio scanner. Bring your phone closer or try with a different ad."</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_timeout_title">Our scanner timed out</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_listening_toast_retry_2020">"Can't hear any ads. Move your phone closer to the speaker or try a different ad."</string>

While the Diwali stamps campaign involved scanning Diwali items like diyas with the phone’s camera, the 2020 campaign is likely to involve the camera and the microphone as two means to earn stamps. The strings above suggest that users will have to leverage their phone’s microphone to listen to a Google Pay ad on TV or Google India’s YouTube playlist. The audio scanner will attempt to pick up the number “2020” within the ad audio and reward users with a 2020-themed stamp.

Some older strings also had their descriptions changed:

  • <string name=”diwali_scandiwali_hint_on_what_to_scan”>Scan a Diwali item to collect a stamp</string>
    changed to
    <string name=”diwali_scandiwali_hint_on_what_to_scan”>Scan the number “2020” anywhere near you to collect a stamp!</string>
  • <string name=”social_diwali_scan_success_description”>”Congrats, you’ve collected a Diwali stamp! Keep playing to complete your set.”</string>
    changed to
    <string name=”social_diwali_scan_success_description”>”Congrats, you’ve collected a 2020 stamp!”</string>
  • <string name=”social_diwali_scan_timeout_description”>We could not detect any Diwali items. Bring your scanner closer or try a different item.</string>
    changed to
    <string name=”social_diwali_scan_timeout_description”>”We couldn’t find the number 2020 with the AR scanner. Bring your phone closer or try with a different image.”</string>

These indicate that simply scanning the number 2020 will also earn you a stamp, though we reckon some stamps will not be available through this medium, just like how Rangoli and Flower could not be earned through scanning in the previous campaign.

There’s still half a month to go for 2020, so we will have to wait to hear more about the rewards and other finer details for the campaign.

Stories for Merchants

This new version of Google Pay is also preparing to allow merchants to add stories.

<string name="merchantstories_content_description">%1$s story button</string>
<string name="merchantstories_more_stories_title">See all</string>
<string name="merchantstories_stories_title">Highlights</string>

Why do we need stories within Google Pay? We can only speculate. Google did add private messaging to Google Photos recently, so why not add stories within Google Pay too. We are also making an educated guess that “story” within this context refers to the temporary photo and video highlights that social media sites have incorporated on their platforms.

One-Time Mandates

One-Time Mandates are part of the UPI 2.0 feature rollout. With this feature, users can pre-authorize a transaction and block funds in their account with an intention to have them debited later. This blocking ensures that you have sufficient funds in your account till the transaction needs to be executed and that you continue earning interest on the amount, as well as allows the transaction to be scheduled and executed automatically.

Google Pay (Tez) v49 contains a few new strings and several older strings for One-Time Mandates:

New Strings:

<string name="india_mandates_preferences_title">One-Time Mandates</string>
<string name="india_mandates_mandateamount_error_max_amount_text">Maximum amount %s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_mandateamount_error_min_amount_text">Minimum amount %s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_mandateamount_input_hint">Amount</string>

Older Strings:

<string name="india_mandates_action_paying_to">Paying to</string>
<string name="india_mandates_action_sending">Sending request…</string>
<string name="india_mandates_amount_paid_label">Amount paid</string>
<string name="india_mandates_call_bank_message">Try calling your bank.</string>
<string name="india_mandates_cannot_reach_bank">"We can't reach your contact's bank. Please try again later."</string>
<string name="india_mandates_category_title">Mandates</string>
<string name="india_mandates_content_source_failure">Could not get mandates from server</string>
<string name="india_mandates_end_date_label">End date</string>
<string name="india_mandates_execution_date_label">Execution date</string>
<string name="india_mandates_incorrect_pin_message">To continue, please raise a new mandate.</string>
<string name="india_mandates_incorrect_pin_title">Incorrect UPI PIN</string>
<string name="india_mandates_insufficient_funds_title">Insufficient funds</string>
<string name="india_mandates_mandate_details_label">Mandate details</string>
<string name="india_mandates_mandate_name_label">Mandate name</string>
<string name="india_mandates_notes_label">Notes/description</string>
<string name="india_mandates_original_amount_header">Original amount</string>
<string name="india_mandates_original_end_date_header">Original end date</string>
<string name="india_mandates_payment_disclaimer">Payments may take up to 3 working days to be reflected in your account</string>
<string name="india_mandates_purpose_code_label">Purpose code</string>
<string name="india_mandates_request_failed">Request failed</string>
<string name="india_mandates_start_date_label">Start date</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_approve_by">Confirm by %1$s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_approve_within">Confirm within %1$s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_countdown">%1$shr %2$smin</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_declined_on">Mandate declined on %1$s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_executed_on">Mandate executed on %1$s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_expired_on">Mandate expired on %1$s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_label">Status</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_refunded_on">Mandate refunded on %1$s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_transaction_details_label">Transaction details</string>
<string name="india_mandates_try_again_title">Try again</string>
<string name="india_mandates_unique_number_label">Unique mandate number</string>
<string name="india_mandates_updated_amount_header">Updated amount</string>
<string name="india_mandates_updated_end_date_header">Updated end date</string>
<string name="india_mandates_upi_credentials_challenge_permission_required_error_description">%1$s needs your phone permissions to ensure that the SIM card in your phone matches with the registered mobile number.</string>
<string name="india_mandates_upi_restore_primer_description">You need to reactivate the following bank account:</string>
<string name="mandates_browsing_details_announce_content_description">Details of mandate</string>
<string name="mandates_browsing_list_announce_content_description">List of mandates</string>

Since we found a combination of both older and newer strings, we are unsure if the feature is new and does not already exist for some users. The main preference title was just added, so we are inclined to believe that the feature is not live yet.


Update: Screenshots of 2020 Stamps and Tokenized Credit Card landing page

Twitter user Rohan Bathla has managed to enable the initial landing pages of the tokenized credit card feature as well as the 2020 stamp. Though, clicking on these elicits no response yet.

Tokenized card support was announced back in September 2019 at the Google for India event. Strings for the feature have existed within the app since a few versions, but since the feature was already announced, these weren’t of particular interest. However, having these surfaced shows that the feature is finally ready for rollout, and we can expect to hear more about it very soon.

The user also managed to surface the feature redirect window for the upcoming 2020 stamps feature.


Update 2: 2020 Stamps are now live!

As predicted, 2020 stamps and its rewards are now live for Google Pay (Tez) for India users.

Google claims that stamps other than Toffee, DJ, and Pizza will be variably distributed. Thankfully, these three stamps are assured on the first instance of the action specified (bill payment, mobile recharge, and new user invite), which is a welcome change as this was a lottery too, last time. Rewards this time range from a payout of ₹202 ($2.8) – ₹2020 ($28.3) after completing all the layers of the cake, as well as bonus rewards on completing each layer, ranging from vouchers, scratch cards, and lucky draw tickets. The 2020 stamp fest/game will last till December 31, 2019, but we do expect Google to extend it by another week.


Google Pay (Tez) - a simple and secure payment app (To be announced, Google Play) →

Thanks to PNF Software for providing us a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android applications.

The post [Update 2: 2020 Stamps rolling out] Google Pay (Tez) for India prepares to add 2020 stamp rewards, One-Time Mandates, and Stories for merchants appeared first on xda-developers.



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Xiaomi experiments with advanced display calibration controls in MIUI 11

Back in September this year, Xiaomi first lifted the covers off MIUI 11. The latest Android skin from the Chinese company introduced a ton of new features, including a completely redesigned interface, a new font, an Always-On Display, and much more. But it seems like Xiaomi isn’t done adding new features to MIUI 11. The company is testing a new advanced display calibration feature in the software which will give users more control over how their device’s screen looks.

The new advanced display calibration controls can be found within a hidden settings page in the latest MIUI 11 nightly build. With the new controls, you get the option to choose the color gamut from four available options including Enhanced, Original, P3, and sRGB. Additionally, it has sliders to individually control the Red, Green, and Blue color levels in the RGB color space, sliders to adjust the hue, saturation, and value in the HSV color space, and sliders to control the contrast and gamma.

You can see all the changes being made in a live preview window at the top and all the changes are automatically saved unless you click on the Discard changes or Restore defaults buttons at the bottom. It’s worth noting that these types of advanced controls are typically offered by custom kernels and it’s quite unusual to see them in a stock build of MIUI 11. As of now, it isn’t clear when Xiaomi plans to roll out the new display controls to a stable build of MIUI 11 or which devices will get this new feature. We expect to learn more in future releases of MIUI 11.


Thanks to XDA Member kacskrz for the screenshots!

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dimanche 22 décembre 2019

[Update: Mumbai, Kolkata, and more] Airtel launches VoWiFi in Delhi/NCR, to be rolled out all over India soon

Update (12/23/19 @ 1:58 AM ET): Airtel has announced a broader rollout of VoWiFi, now covering Mumbai, Kolkata and more regions. Scroll to the bottom for more information. The article as published on December 10, 2019, is preserved as below.

It’s no doubt that both Airtel and Vodafone are struggling right now. Not only have the companies been facing the worst quarterly losses in the telecom sector’s history, but they have also racked up a massive liability. Earlier this month, Bharti Airtel’s board approved a fundraising plan for $3 Billion for “any future payouts” including AGR liabilities as well as debt refinancing. Out of the $3 Billion, $1 Billion will be raised through debt, while the other $2 Billion will be raised by issuing additional equity shares. In a bid to attract more users to its platform and counteract the massive losses, Airtel has now launched its VoWiFi services in Delhi/NCR.

The new Airtel VoWiFi service aims to enhance indoor voice calling experience for smartphone users by allowing users to seamlessly switch from LTE to WiFi-based calling when they’re inside their homes or offices. Users will incur no extra charge for voice calls made with Airtel VoWiFi and the company promises that the application will consume minimal data.

Talking about the launch Randeep Sekhon, CTO Bharti Airtel, said, “As a customer-obsessed brand, we constantly working on improving customer experience based on their feedback. Seamless indoor coverage has been a key ask from mobile customers but getting permissions for site installations has always been a big challenge for mobile operators, particularly in top metros. ‘Airtel Wi-Fi Calling’ is another pioneering technology intervention from Airtel and will go a long way in making the voice calling experience more seamless.

Airtel VoWiFi will not require any additional apps and can be easily configured on any smartphone by following a few simple steps. Users can check smartphone compatibility by following this link, enable the WiFi calling feature on their smartphones, and then turn on VoLTE for a seamless calling experience. As of now, Airtel VoWiFi includes support for the iPhone 6s and later, the Xiaomi Redmi K20/K20 Pro, POCO F1, Samsung Galaxy J6, A10s, On6, M30s, and all models in the OnePlus 7 series.

The service is currently only compatible with Airtel Xstream Fiber home broadband and the company plans to roll out support for all broadband services and WiFi hotspots in the near future. Following the successful rollout in Delhi/NCR, Airtel plans to extend the service all over the country. It’s also worth noting that even though the VoWiFi might not generate direct revenue for Airtel, it may help the company retain customers by offering a better calling experience.


Update: Airtel VoWiFi rolling out in Mumbai, Kolkata, as well as in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka

Airtel has announced a broader rollout of VoWiFi, covering the cities of Mumbai and Kolkata, as well as the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. Aamir was briefly able to access VoWiFi on his broadband connection, which is provided through a local ISP and is not Airtel Xstream Fiber.

The press release still mentions Airtel Xstream Fiber as a current requirement, with broader compatibility with other broadband services rolling out.

The post [Update: Mumbai, Kolkata, and more] Airtel launches VoWiFi in Delhi/NCR, to be rolled out all over India soon appeared first on xda-developers.



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Honor 9X with AIS Super Night Mode

Every year Honor pushes the boundaries of what we can expect from budget devices with their X-Series phones. As we approach the holidays, Honor is launching their newest addition to the family, the Honor 9X. Powered by the Kirin 710F, the Honor 9X brings a few newer features that set this phone above others in its class. A full-screen notch-less display is made possible by the motorized pop-up camera that houses the selfie sensor.

With the 9X, Honor put a great deal of attention into the photography aspect of this phone. The device is fitted with a 48MP triple camera that includes an 8MP ultrawide lens and a 2MP depth sensor. The f/1.8 aperture is paired with the half-inch sensor to produce super clear photos. The AIS super night mode promises improve your low-light photos. Observe some of our sample shots below.

Honor 9X Specs
Display 6,59″ 1080 x 2340p
Chipset HiSilicon Kirin 710F
RAM 6GB
Storage 128GB
Main Camera 48MP/8MP (Ultrawide)/2MP (Depth Sensor)
Selfie Camera 16MP Motorized Pop-up
Battery 4000mAh
Operating System Android 9.1.0 EMUI 9.1.0

Join the discussions about the Honor 9X in the community forums.

Honor 9X Forums
We thank Honor for sponsoring this post. Our sponsors help us pay for the many costs associated with running XDA, including server costs, full time developers, news writers, and much more. While you might see sponsored content (which will always be labeled as such) alongside Portal content, the Portal team is in no way responsible for these posts. Sponsored content, advertising and XDA Depot are managed by a separate team entirely. XDA will never compromise its journalistic integrity by accepting money to write favorably about a company, or alter our opinions or views in any way. Our opinion cannot be bought.

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Here are the (alleged) specs for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite

Samsung is gearing up for the launch of the Galaxy S11 series early next year. But the three devices in the series aren’t the only interesting phones Samsung is currently working on. We already know that the company is planning on launching a Galaxy S10 Lite, which was previously confirmed in an FCC listing. While rumors about the devices have been popping up since October this year, we recently learned more about its internal specifications. But the Galaxy S10 Lite isn’t the only ‘lite’ phone that Samsung has in the works. The company is also expected to launch the Galaxy Note 10 Lite sometime soon and we now have some key details about its specifications.

According to a recent report from WinFuture, the Galaxy Note 10 Lite (model no. SM-N770F) will be a slimmed-down version of the flagship Note 10 lineup featuring the same S-Pen and a slightly older Exynos 9810 SoC. The processor is coupled with 6GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage. Much like the Galaxy S10 Lite, the Note 10 Lite will feature a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display with a 2400 x 1800 resolution and a pixel density of 398 PPI. The device will feature an in-display fingerprint scanner and a centered hole-punch display for the selfie camera.

In the camera department, the Galaxy Note 10 Lite will feature a 12MP f/1.7 sensor with dual-pixel autofocus, along with a 12MP f/2.4 2x telephoto lens, and a 12MP f/2.2 wide-angle camera. For selfies, the device will feature a 32MP f/2.0 shooter. The Galaxy Note 10 Lite will feature a USB Type-C port for charging and data syncing, along with a 3.5mm headphone jack. The device will be backed by a large 4,500 mAh battery with support for 25-watt fast charging. Other features include Bluetooth 5.0, NFC support, dual-band WiFi.

The Galaxy Note 10 Lite will measure in at just 8.7mm thick and it’ll weight 198g. Upon release, the device will run Samsung’s One UI 2.0 based on Android 10 and will be available in three color variants. Samsung has reportedly priced the device at €609 (~$675), which makes it a compelling option for fans of the Note lineup who don’t require top-of-the-line hardware. In comparison, the Galaxy S10 Lite will be priced at €679.99 (~$755.98) which is probably because it features a more powerful Snapdragon 855 SoC and more capable camera setup. Both the devices are expected to launch in Europe early next year.


Source: WinFuture

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Google Chrome for PCs is getting a new media control tool with support for Chromecast

A lot of us listen to music through our web browsers these days – be it through the likes of YouTube Music, Soundcloud, Google Play Music, or any of the other countless cloud-based music services that are out there. It can be quite annoying to control the music playing in the background though, especially if, like me, you may have a lot of tabs open at any given time. A new feature that was announced on the official Chromium blog – though the post was quickly taken down – is a media controller that can be accessed from anywhere inside of Google Chrome.

As also spotted by Chrome Story, there’s even more to the feature than meets the eye. It appears to work with Chromecasts so that you can control casted content from just about anywhere in Google Chrome, according to the official description of a new flag called “Global Media Controls for Cast”. A similar functionality used to exist where you could go to chrome://cast in your URL bar and control currently casting devices on your home network, though it no longer works.

The original feature, simply dubbed “Global Media Controls”, is already possible to enable now. It actually launched as part of Chrome OS earlier this year but took some time to reach Google Chrome on other platforms such as Windows, MacOS, and Linux. The media controls look exactly as they would on Android – a pause/play button, the currently playing URL, and the title. Sites can also implement more advanced functionality such as skipping, fast forward, and album art. The notification even changes color to match the currently playing content, just like on Android. The feature is similar to what rolled out as part of Chrome OS 79, which saw media controls for websites accessible from the lock screen.

At the moment, YouTube fully supports it and Soundcloud works as well. You can enable the feature and try it out for yourself simply by navigating to chrome://flags/#global-media-controls in your address bar. Let us know what you think!


Via: ArsTechnica // Via: Chrome Story

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AOD DoubleTap Mod enables double tap to wake the Ambient Display on OnePlus phones

Over the past years, Always On Display features have gained popularity with several OEMs as one of the alternative solutions to deliver the functionality that notification LEDs would have otherwise delivered. On OnePlus devices, however, there is no Always On Display feature. Instead, the OEM prefers to use its own implementation that comes in the form of Ambient Display. Ambient Display lights up when you get new notifications or when you tap the screen, but offers very limited functionality. OnePlus AOD DoubleTap Mod aims to fix some of the annoyance from the lack of functionality by offering an easier and quicker transition to the lockscreen.

Ambient Display on OnePlus smartphones only provides a glimpse of your notifications by display the icon of the notifying app. If you wish to undertake any action beyond this glimpse, you have to transition away from the Ambient Display. This is done by either pressing the power button or by unlocking the phone using the fingerprint sensor. Since newer OnePlus smartphones come with in-display fingerprint sensors, this transition is not too much of an issue. However, some users would still prefer a method to invoke the lockscreen that is consistent with what you can expect from other OEMs. On other OEM phones, you can simply tap or double-tap the Ambient Display to transition to the lock screen.

OnePlus AOD DoubleTap Mod by XDA Member XJIOP brings back this consistency by allowing users to double-tap on the Ambient Display screen to transition to the lock screen. From the lock screen, you can view the notification text and remove the notification with a swipe without needing to unlock the screen. The app installs normally and does not need root to function as it enables its functionality through accessibility settings. The app has been tested on the OnePlus 7T, but should work on all OnePlus devices after the OnePlus 6, and also possibly on other devices with AMOLED display. If you are interested, you can also check out the source code of the app.

OnePlus AOD DoubleTap Mod — XDA Discussion Thread

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