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mercredi 18 décembre 2019

Now-fixed Google Chrome bug broke data storage for many apps using WebView

Earlier this month, Google started rolling out Chrome 79 on all platforms. The update brought a ton of new features, including better password protection, real-time phishing protection, expanded predictive phishing protection, and more. But along with the new features, Chrome 79 also introduced a bug that has been causing data loss for Android apps that use the WebView API.

As per a recent report from Ars Technica, the data loss was a result of Google changing where Chrome 79 stores profile data without migrating the old data. This resulted in the affected apps resetting to a freshly installed state. In a statement regarding the bug, a spokesperson from Google wrote, “The M79 update to Chrome and WebView on Android devices was suspended after detecting an issue in WebView where some users’ app data was not visible within those apps. This app data was not lost and will be made visible in apps when we deliver an update this week. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

Google has since started rolling out Chrome 79 (79.0.3945.93) for Android which brings the following features, along with stability and performance improvements:

  • WebView bug fix: Resolves an issue in WebView where some users’ app data was not visible within those apps. The app data was not lost and will be made visible in apps with this update. See crbug.com/1033655
  • Password safety: When you sign in to a website, Chrome can now warn you if your password was previously exposed in a data breach
  • Support for virtual reality: The WebXR Device API enables immersive and inline VR experiences for the web
  • Reorder bookmarks: Drag bookmarks into place, or tap a bookmark’s options menu and select Move up or Move down

The full list of changes introduced in Chrome 79 can be seen in the Git log. You can download the Chrome 79 hotfix update from the Play Store by following the link below. In case you were one of the several people affected by the aforementioned bug, you should get back all your old data following the update. However, do note that you may lose any new data collected by an affected app after the previous update.

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


Source: Google Blog

Via: Ars Technica

The post Now-fixed Google Chrome bug broke data storage for many apps using WebView appeared first on xda-developers.



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mardi 17 décembre 2019

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

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.


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: Screenshots] 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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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

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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

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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

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[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.

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[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

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