Google Chrome will phase out third-party cookies and the use of user-agent strings

Google Chrome is by far the most popular internet browser in the market today, claiming a market share of 63.6% as of December 2019, with the runner up being Safari at 17.7%. Chrome’s dominance in the market, aided by the fact that it is a part of the GMS app suite, gives it a commanding position in the market. Because of its controlling presence, all major decisions that Chrome undertakes for itself have a far-reaching impact on the Internet — how it is built and how users can access it. Google has now announced its plans to phase out support for third-party cookies, as well as freeze the use of user-agent strings in Google Chrome.

Third-party cookies

A cookie, in the context of the Internet, is a piece of data that is stored on the user’s device when the user accesses a website. This cookie stores data related to the user’s interaction with the website, such as items added to cart, login data, form data, and much more. First-party cookies are cookies that are created by the visited website itself, and are necessary for the website to track your activity as you move from page to page. Third-party cookies, on the other hand, are cookies that are created by a party other than the visited website or the user; these usually refer to cookies created by external content, such as advertisements. Since average users often exercise little or no control over the advertisement providers that can serve them, they inadvertently allow these ad providers to track and build the user’s profile based on their browsing history across websites that have ads from the same provider.

For an ad provider, tracking the user is an important task as it allows them to serve users with ads that are more relevant to the user’s taste, and hence, have a higher probability of attracting the user’s attention and interaction. While this goal sounds bearable, the actual implementation of the idea has exceeded the original intent, trampling upon user privacy with little concern.

Browsers took it upon themselves to protect user privacy, with many popular browsers choosing to implement third-party cookie blocking, but without providing an alternative for ad providers to achieve their goals. This had the inadvertent effect of turning ad providers to resort to more opaque profiling techniques such as fingerprinting. With fingerprinting, providers used tiny bits of information that can vary between users, such as what device they have or what fonts they have installed, to generate a unique identifier that can then be used to match a user across websites. While cookies could be cleared by users and thus reset periodically, fingerprints cannot be cleared by users, leaving them without a choice to reset. Blocking cookies also affects websites that rely on ad revenue, so there are a lot of consequences associated with such a restrictive move.

Google Chrome and Privacy Sandbox

Back in August 2019, Google announced Privacy Sandbox, an initiative to develop a set of open standards that aims to improve privacy on the web. Google also outlined some of the early proposals it had towards these open standards. Now, Google has announced an update to this original plan, and that is the intention of phasing out third-party cookies in Google Chrome within the next two years.

Google believes that the Privacy Sandbox initiative can sustain a healthy, ad-supported web in a manner that renders third-party cookies obsolete. The approaches outlined within can address the needs of users, publishers, and advertisers in a harmonious manner, and Google also plans to develop tools to mitigate workarounds that bad actors might employ — and Google hopes to achieve all of this within the next two years in Chrome.

Starting from February 2020, i.e. the next month, Chrome will also look to limit insecure cross-site tracking. Cookies that don’t include a SameSite label will be treated as first-party only, and cookies labeled for third-party use can be accessed over HTTPS only. Google claims that this will make third-party cookies more secure, and give users more precise browser cookie controls. Google is also developing techniques to detect and mitigate covert tracking and workarounds by launching new anti-fingerprinting measures to discourage such deceptive and intrusive techniques — these are promised to be launched later this year.

This aggressive timeline thus encourages the web community to explore alternatives, and do it quick. Google claims to be working actively across the ecosystem so that browsers, publishers, developers, and advertisers can “experiment with the new mechanisms, test whether they work well in various situations, and develop supporting implementations, including ad selection and measurement, denial of service (DoS) prevention, anti-spam/fraud, and federated authentication“.

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User-Agent string

A User-Agent string is a piece of text that contains several details about the browser type, rendering engine, and operating system, that is sent by the browser to the visited website. User-Agent strings are used to fine-tune features based on the user’s technical specifications. But the user-agent string is now being used as a source for passive fingerprinting information about the user. On top of this massive issue, user-agent strings also create compatibility headaches for minority browsers, wherein websites throw errors to users on select OSs and browsers while accepting others, without any valid reason. Browsers then have to resort to manipulating the User-Agent string to workaround these nonsensical restrictions, which then frustrates the original purpose of the string.

The abuse outlined above has prompted Google to freeze the User-Agent string and replace it with a better mechanism. This replacement comes in the form of User Agent Client Hints (UACH), which fixes some of the issues from User-Agent string. It provides information only when the server requests it — classifying any fingerprinting done as “active” fingerprinting, which can then be worked into implementations like Privacy Budget; and it provides information in small increments as and when requested, instead of revealing everything in every request.

Google thus plans to freeze/stop updating Google Chrome’s User-Agent component with new strings. Google plans to unify all Chrome User-Agent strings into generic values that do not reveal too much information. Chrome v81, expected around March 2020, will begin showing console warnings when pages try to access User-Agent strings. Chrome v83, expected around June 2020, will freeze the browser version and unify the OS version in the User-Agent string. Chrome v85, expected around September 2020, will unify the desktop OS entry into a common value for desktop browsers, and mobile OS strings into a similar common value. This timeline claims to provide three months for developers to move to the new mechanism for their information needs, and six months for more sophisticated OS targeting.

Other browsers like Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari have expressed support for User-Agent freezing, but not necessarily for the UACH alternative. For web developers, Google suggests that they are better off employing Feature Detection as the first alternative for the use cases of User-Agent sniffing, and then fallback to UACH when such alternative fails.

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OnePlus 6/6T Open Beta 4 brings December 2019 security patch and minor upgrades

The Android 10 update for the OnePlus 6 and the OnePlus 6T got halted not just once but twice due to a load of bugs that caused system instability. The company got that out of the way by releasing a cured update in late December 2019 alongside an Open Beta update, which brought November’s security patches and a few functional improvements such as a notch hiding feature. Now, the company is rolling out Open Beta 4 for the OnePlus 6/6T and it brings December 2019’s security patches, a few privacy features, and the OnePlus 7T‘s improved reading mode.

OnePlus 6 XDA Forums / OnePlus 6T XDA Forums

The new chromatic reading mode is a useful addition for users who read a lot of online articles or ebooks on their phone. First introduced with the OnePlus 7T, the chromatic reading mode dulls the colors on the display and adds a sepia filter instead of going all black and white. This allows users to stay hooked on to whatever they are reading while also cutting down their exposure to harmful blue light.

The update also brings some system improvement and here’s the full changelog indicating those changes:

•  System
  • Optimized details for Emergency Rescue
  • Added a feature to support reminders for privacy alerts
  • Improved system stability and fixed general bugs
  • Updated Android security patch to 2019.12
• Phone
  • Added ringtone increasing and decreasing features for incoming calls
• Reading Mode
  • Fresh new chromatic effect for a more immersive and comfortable reading experience with smart color gamut and saturation adjustment (Settings – Display – Reading Mode – Turn on Reading Mode – Chromatic effect)

Google has already started pushing out the January 2020 security update to Pixel devices and the same has trickled down to certain Nokia Android One and Realme phones. The majority of OnePlus phones, however, are yet to even receive the December 2019 patches. The OnePlus 7 and 7 Pro got them as part of the Open Beta update in the first week of January while the OnePlus 5/5T received the December patches via a stable update last week. However, the remaining lot, including the stable channel for OnePlus 6/6T is still stuck with the patches from November 2019.

You can download the latest Open Beta updates using the links below:

Download OnePlus 6 Open Beta 4 full OTA || Download OnePlus 6 Open Beta 4 full OTA

Thanks to XDA Senior Member Some_Random_Username for the download links!

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Google Phone app prepares to add support for call recording

The Google Phone app is the pre-installed dialer application on Google Pixel smartphones, devices in the Android One program, and most recently, Xiaomi smartphones sold in Europe. When Xiaomi announced that all of their phones sold in Europe would come pre-installed with the Google Phone app, some users were disappointed because that would mean losing the ability to record phone calls, a feature present in the stock MIUI dialer application. Xiaomi promised that this feature will be “obtainable” in 2020, and now the first hints of call recording support in the Google Phone app have shown up.

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.

Version 43.0.289191107 of the Google Phone app rolled out for my Pixel 4 earlier today, and after decoding the resources, I discovered that Google added a new layout, icon, and other assets pertaining to call recording in the dialer app. New strings also reveal that there will be an in-call button to initiate a new recording.

<string name="incall_label_record">Record</string>
<string name="incall_content_description_record_unchecked">Record</string>
<string name="incall_content_description_record_checked">Recording</string>

Recording the audio from a phone call is a feature that was previously possible in Android versions before Android 9 Pie. In Android 9 Pie, Google closed the workarounds that developers used to enable recording the audio in phone calls. Since Google hasn’t provided an official call recording API since Android 6 Marshmallow, users have to rely on OEMs to enable call recording support in their pre-installed dialer applications. Thus far, Google has not offered an official way to record phone calls in the Google Phone app, forcing Pixel and Android One users to root their phones if they want to do so. While we know that Google is working to bring back call recording APIs in a future version of Android, that means users with a pressing need to record phone calls (for personal or business reasons) will have to find other means to do so.

Even with the addition of this code, we don’t know if Google will enable call recording for all users of the Google Phone app. The addition of code related to this feature coincides with Xiaomi’s recent announcement, which leads us to believe that this feature is intended for Xiaomi smartphones. However, there’s nothing about this feature that requires a Xiaomi phone, so it should be simple for Google to enable it for Pixel and Android One users as well.

Despite the addition of these new resources to the Google Phone app, the in-call button for call recording has not yet surfaced in the latest version of the app. We will be attempting to enable this feature and will update this article with screenshots if we are successful.

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

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Exclusive: Leaked Samsung Galaxy S20+ Hands-on confirms 120Hz display, ultrasonic under-display fingerprint scanner, and no headphone jack

The Samsung Galaxy S20 series is Samsung’s next mainstream flagship series, and all eyes are set on the top Android OEM for its biggest guns yet. We know that Samsung is skipping over the Galaxy S11 moniker in favor of “Galaxy S20”, and we have brought to you other leaks detailing some of the upcoming camera features on the phone. More recently, we also brought to you the first live images of the Galaxy S20+, but our leaks don’t stop there. We have been able to confirm some more details about the Galaxy S20+ display and the in-display fingerprint scanner.

Galaxy S20+ XDA Forums ||| Galaxy S20 XDA Forums

Display Resolution and Aspect Ratio

First off, the display on the Galaxy S20+ comes in at 3200 x 1440 pixels, thanks to the taller 20:9 aspect ratio. We weren’t able to confirm the exact display size/diagonal.

A taller aspect ratio on a large display ends up making the phone a lot more comfortable to hold and use. It all around ends up looking more modern as well. All of the Galaxy S20 series — Galaxy S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra — will come in this aspect ratio and display resolution. This means the rumored 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch displays on the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20 Ultra are unlikely to feel unwieldy.

Fingerprint Scanner

Our source was also able to confirm something else: the ultrasonic under-display fingerprint scanner. Some rumors speculated that the Galaxy S20 series would ditch the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner in favor of an optical fingerprint scanner. However, we can confirm that this is not true. The Galaxy S20+ will feature an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner.

We were able to confirm this was an ultrasonic scanner and not an optical scanner by checking if the scanner area lights up, as that is the primary visual difference between the two and the easiest way to tell the two technologies apart. In the case of an optical fingerprint scanner, the scanner area on the display is lit up brightly; while an ultrasonic sensor needs no light for its functioning. The Galaxy S20+ does not light up the fingerprint area (other than the display’s regular brightness levels), which essentially confirms the ultrasonic sensor.

Most of us did assume that the Samsung flagships would opt for Qualcomm’s new 3D Sonic Max ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. However, we could not confirm this particular detail. We even tried to locate if there are any settings for scanning two fingers simultaneously – as that is a highlight feature of the new sensor – but we could not locate any. So whether the phone uses the older sensor or the newer sensor remains to be seen.

120Hz Display

Another discovery from our source is the confirmation of the 120Hz display. We were also able to get a picture of the device with the 120Hz settings toggle, confirming that the phone does indeed support the feature. This makes the S20 series the first from Samsung phone with a refresh rate above 60Hz. It’s good to see Samsung, the largest display OLED manufacturer in the world, embracing the high refresh rate trend on smartphones.

There was also some concern about the display only being able to push 120Hz at the FHD+ resolution. We have been able to confirm this is true. Our source was only able to run his Galaxy S20+ at 120Hz while using the FHD+ display mode. We were able to follow up and confirm this by examining the strings in the Settings app which state “High refresh rate isn’t supported in WQHD+. Your screen will change to standard refresh rate.”

Design

Some of you might also want to see what the phone looks like while in use. Luckily, our source was able to get us a video of the Galaxy S20+ 5G where the phone is momentarily flipped around. It gives us some more size and scale to the device along with showing off the cameras and the display a bit better.

The Galaxy S20+ is also the first S-series flagship without a headphone jack. Our source was able to confirm to us that it does come with the AKG USB Type-C earbuds. These are likely the same as the earbuds that came with the Galaxy Note 10. They were also able to confirm that the Galaxy S20+ will come with a Super Fast charger in the box. The Galaxy S20+ will support 25W fast charging with the same system as the Note 10.

The Galaxy S20+ is a massive device, coming in much taller than the Galaxy S10+. In the picture below, the S20+ and the S10+ are shown side by side. You can easily see how massive the S20+ is in comparison. The Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G is rumored to be even larger than the S20+.

Base Specifications

Device info apps report that the Galaxy S20+ comes with 11GB of RAM, likely to be advertised as 12GB. Allegedly, Samsung will utilize LPDDR5 RAM, which is supported by the memory controller of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865. The S20+ will also come with 128GB of (presumably UFS 3.0) storage and with a rated battery capacity of 4,500 mAh and a typical capacity of 4,370 mAh.

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The Samsung Galaxy S20+ all around looks like an amazing device. The absence of the new Qualcomm fingerprint scanner and headphone jack are a bit of a bummer, but at least we are getting an amazing, massive 120Hz display. These devices really do seem incredible. I’m very excited to hear more about the two other phones and the Galaxy Z Flip at Samsung Unpacked on February 11th.

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Honor 9X global variant launches in India after a long wait, Honor Magic Watch 2 and Band 5i accompany

Huawei and sub-brand Honor have been badly hit due to the U.S. President Trump’s executive orders to bar companies (including Google) from transacting with the Chinese giant. The orders came in May 2019 and since then, there have been multiple extensions to the final date when these orders come into play, leading to a long period of confusion and frustration for company officials, fans, and especially Huawei and Honor users. After a long hiatus from what seems to be a speculative period for the company, Honor is bringing the Honor 9X – which was actually introduced last year – to India.

Honor 9X XDA Forums

The Honor 9X was first unveiled alongside a more powerful Pro variant in July 2019, in China. The phone features an X-shaped holographic gradient on the back, a full notchless display, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, and a pop-up selfie camera. Further, both the Honor 9X and the 9X Pro were powered by Huawei’s new 7nm silicon, the Kirin 810.

However, when Honor launched the phone in Europe in October 2019, there were certain trade-offs that had to be made. Since the executive orders prevented new Huawei and Honor devices from being certified for Android, the company had to choose older hardware to be able to retain GMS (Google Mobile Services). Therefore, there is only a single global version of Honor 9X; it comes with a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, 12nm Kirin 710F chipset (same as Kirin 710) and the same is being launched in India today.

The Honor 9X which is being launched in India today is also fairly identical to the Huawei Y9 Prime (2019) in terms of design. The 6.59-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD display, 4,000mAh battery, USB Type-C, and the 16MP pop-up camera are some of the physical attributes both of the phones share besides the Kirin 710F SoC. When it comes to the rear cameras, the Honor 9X global features a 48MP primary camera, an 8MP wide-angle camera, and a 2MP depth sensor.

In terms of software, the Honor 9X runs EMUI 9.1 based on Android 9 Pie. The phone could receive EMUI 10 based on Android 10 but there’s no final date available yet.

Honor 9X India Specifications

Specification	Honor 9X
Dimensions and Weight	163.5 x 77.3 x 8.8 mm; 196.8g
Display	6.59″ FHD+ (2340x1080p) IPS-LCD; 91% screen-to-body-ratio; TUV Rheinland-certified
SoC	12nm HiSilicon Kirin 710F
RAM and Storage	4GB + 128GB; 6GB+128GB; Expandable up to 512GB through dedicated microSD card slot
Battery	4,000 mAh
USB	Type-C
Rear Camera	48MP, f/1.8 + 8MP, f/2.4 120-degree ultra-wide + 2MP, f/2.4 depth sensor
Front Camera	16MP, f/2.2
Android Version	EMUI 9.1 based on Android 9 Pie

Honor Magic Watch 2

Besides the Honor 9X smartphone, Honor is also launching the Magic Watch 2 in India. The watch is powered by the Kirin A1 chipset meant for power-efficiency and long-lasting battery life over high performance. It runs LiteOS which may not very convincing for smartwatch users and limits usability to just custom watchfaces. Among other features, the Honor Magic Watch 2 gets 15 fitness tracking modes, a stress meter, and extensive sleep tracking. There is no automatic workout detection or IP rating.

Honor Magic Watch 2 Specification

Specification	46mm Honor Magic Watch 2	42mm Honor Magic Watch 2
Display	1.39-inch 454×454 AMOLED display	1.2-inch 390×390 AMOLED display
SOC	Kirin A1	Kirin A1
Battery	455 mAh	215 mAh
Connectivity	Bluetooth v5.1, Wi-Fi, dual-frequency GPS	Bluetooth v5.1, Wi-Fi, dual-frequency GPS
Health Features	Heart rate, sleep tracking, stress monitor, breathing guidance, 15 fitness modes	Heart rate, sleep tracking, stress monitor, breathing guidance, 15 fitness modes
Water Resistance	50 meters water-resistant, not IP-rated	50 meters water-resistant, not IP-rated
Storage Capacity	4GB	4GB
Software Version	LiteOS	LiteOS

Honor Band 5i

Another product that Honor brings to the fore today is the Honor Band 5i, which is a more affordable variant of the Honor Band 5. The Honor Band 5i features a 0.96-inch TFT display instead of an AMOLED with a lower resolution compared to the Honor Band 5. One of the ends of the Honor Band 5i comes with a male USB plug built-in so it can be directly plugged into a USB Type-A port for charging.

The Honor Band 5i features a 190mAh battery with a claimed standby time of 9 days. There’s no NFC support on the Band 5i and besides the optical heart rate sensor, it features a 3-axis accelerometer.

Honor Band 5 vs Band 5i Specification

Specification	Honor Band 5	Honor Band 5i
Display	0.95-inch AMOLED color touch screen Resolution: 240×120	0.96-inch TFT color touch screen Resolution: 160×80
Battery	100mAh, 15 days standby	91mAh, 9 days standby
Connectivity	Bluetooth v4.2	Bluetooth v4.2
Health Features	10 fitness tracking modes optical heart rate sensor 6-axis gyroscope	9 fitness tracking modes optical heart rate sensor 3-axis gyroscope
Water Resistance	50 meters	50 meters
NFC	Yes (optional)	No

Price & Availability

The Honor 9X will be available in two variants – 4GB/128GB and 6GB/128GB. The 4GB RAM variant will be priced at ₹13,999 (~$200) while the 6GB RAM variant will be available for ₹16,999 (~$240). These will be available in India via Flipkart starting January 19th, 2020.

The 42mm variant of the Honor Magic Watch 2 is priced starting at ₹11,999 (~$170) while the 46mm variant will be priced starting at ₹12,999 (~$185). The Honor Band 5i will be available for ₹1,999 (~$20). The Honor Magic Watch 2 and the Band 5i will be available via Amazon India starting January 19th, 2020.

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Chrome OS 80 introduces Android 10-like gesture navigation

Back in 2014, Google added Android app support on Chrome OS — the company’s light-weight operating system for more traditional computing form factors. Thanks to the Android app support, Chrome OS-powered machines weren’t just limited to web-based applications and users could enjoy their favorite Android applications on a larger device with keyboard and mouse support. Late last year, Chrome OS 80 was rolled out in the Dev channel and it added support for sideloading Android apps without Developer Mode. Now, Google is rolling out more new features in Chrome OS 80 as it hits the beta channel.

As reported by Android Police, Chrome OS 80 includes two more features ported over from Android — gesture navigation and multiple quick settings pages. In case you’re on the Chome OS beta channel, you can use the new gestures by enabling the modular shelf flag for Chrome. For those of you who already had this enabled in Chrome OS 79, the feature will disable itself following the update and you’ll have to turn it on again.

As seen in the video above, the gestures work quite a bit like the ones Google released with Android 10 and allow you to swipe up to go back to home, swipe from the sides to go back, and swipe up and hold to open the overview screen. However, the back gesture on Chrome OS only works on the left edge of the display. There’s an additional gesture that can be used to show the app dock and it requires users to swipe up a short distance quickly from the bottom of the screen. As of now, the old pull down from the top to go back to home gesture still works but we can’t be sure if it will be available when the update lands on the stable channel.

Along with the new navigation gestures, the Chrome OS 80 beta release also adds multiple quick settings pages to the platform. Unlike Android, however, you can’t change the order of the tiles or add custom tiles in quick settings. It’s worth noting that both these new features are currently a work in progress and Google might make some further changes before the build hits the stable channel.

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Via: Android Police

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Google App update brings a new Labs section to beta test new features

Back in March last year, an APK teardown of the Google App revealed that the company was working on a new Labs feature that will let you try new features before their public release. At the time, the app included two new features for testing, one that helped you discover content related to your collections and the other that let you pinch to zoom in on search result pages. Almost a year down the line, the company is finally rolling out the Labs section in the latest update of the Google app with another upcoming feature.

As per a recent report from Android Police, the feature is slowly showing up for people worldwide. To access the Labs section, users will need to navigate to the More tab in the Google app and then tap on the Labs option. The following window has a list of features currently being tested by Google, along with a brief description of what they’re intended to do. To try out a feature, you just need to tap on the toggle next to it and you’re good to go. As of now, the Labs section has two features, including the aforementioned pinch to zoom feature and a screenshot editing/sharing feature.

Additionally, tapping on the Learn More button for each feature brings up clear instructions on how to use the experimental feature, along with extra steps you might need to take in order to enable the feature. The Labs section also has a feedback button to help you directly submit feedback based on your experiences with the new feature. The Labs feature is being rolled out via a server-side update and it wasn’t available on any of my devices at the time of writing. As of now, Google hasn’t revealed any specific timeline for its rollout, but expect the feature to reach more users in the coming week.

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Via: Android Police

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