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jeudi 6 février 2020

Google Translate 6.5 tests Android 10 dark mode support and continues work on Transcribe mode

A system-wide dark mode has arguably been one of the most requested features on Android for quite some time. Google finally delivered with the first stable rollout of Android 10 late last year, pushing a new darker theme for the operating system. The company also rolled out individual dark mode toggles for many of its apps, including Google Keep, Files, Photos, Duo and more. However, the dark mode hasn’t made it to all of Google’s Android apps yet. For instance, the Google Translate app still doesn’t have a dark theme. But the latest update for the app reveals that the company has finally started testing dark mode support for the app.

Our Editor-in-Chief, Mishaal Rahman, managed to manually enable the dark theme in version 6.5 of the Google Translate app on his Pixel 4. As you can see in the attached screenshots, turning on the dark mode switches the white elements in the app’s UI to a dark gray color without changing the color of the elements in blue.

Google Translate Google Translate Google Translate Google Translate

The dark gray color spans across the app’s home page, phrasebook, and language selection menu, but the app’s Settings menu has a black background. As of now, the feature isn’t enabled in version 6.5 of the Google Translate app and our Managing Editor, Joe Fedewa, didn’t see a similar dark theme on his Pixel upon sideloading the latest update.

Google Translate Google Translate Google Translate

Along with the dark mode, the app also continues work on the Transcribe Mode which was first spotted back in December last year. The feature essentially allows you to translate uninterrupted speed in Google Translate to facilitate a conversation between users who don’t speak the same language. Google officially showed off the feature late last month at its AI Press Day event. The feature now appears as an icon labeled Transcribe right next to the Camera and Conversation icons in the app. The rest of the UI remains the same as what we spotted last year.

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Firefox Preview adds support for addons/extensions in the latest Nightly

Mozilla released an early version of its new browser for Android back in June last year. The new browser, called Firefox Preview, is built on top of Firefox’s mobile browser engine GeckoView and it’s meant to replace the older Firefox browser on the platform. Back in October last year, Mozilla announced that it was working on bringing extension support to GeckoView through the WebExtensions API. However, the Firefox Preview v3.0 update that followed next month didn’t include the feature. Now, according to recent posts on Reddit, the feature is finally rolling out with the latest Firefox Preview Nightly.

Firefox Preview extensions Firefox Preview extensions Firefox Preview extensions Firefox Preview extensions

You can now install the popular uBlock Origin extension in the latest version of Firefox Preview Nightly on Android. To do so, you’ll first need to update Firefox Preview to the latest nightly build by following the Play Store link below. Once you’ve installed the update, you’ll have to tap on the three-dot menu icon in the bottom right corner, tap on Settings and then select Add-ons from the Advanced section. Here you’ll find the uBlock Origin add-on which you can install by tapping on the + icon right next to it and then selecting Add in the following pop-up. After the add-on is downloaded, you should see a notification that uBlock Origin has been installed successfully. You can then configure the extension by tapping on it in the Add-ons menu and selecting Settings in the following window.

Do note that since this is a nightly release of Firefox Preview you might encounter some bugs and a few features might not work as intended. As some users on the Reddit thread point out, Firefox Preview may also crash when accessing certain uBlock Origin pages. I installed the browser on my Realme X2 Pro and enabled uBlock Origin without any issues, however, the uBlock Origin settings aren’t as responsive as you’d expect. As of now, Mozilla hasn’t announced when extension support will roll out to the stable version of the browser, but you can expect to see support for more extensions in the nightly version in the following weeks.

Firefox Preview Nightly for Developers (Free, Google Play) →


Via: Reddit (1,2)

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Realme C3 launches in India with MediaTek Helio G70, 5,000mAh battery, and Realme UI

Realme will turn two this year and in this short time, the brand has propelled from being an underdog to one of the ten smartphone brands worldwide. In India, Realme has found itself a place among the top five phone brands. Besides a high value for money, Realme’s availability across all tiers of the smartphone market ensures great visibility. The company started 2020 by launching the Realme 5i last month and will be launching its 5G-enabled flagship device at MWC 2020. For India and similar price-sensitive markets, Realme has now announced a new phone in its entry-level C series. The new Realme C3 comes with MediaTek Helio G70 chipset, dual rear cameras, a large 5,000mAh battery, and Realme UI based on Android 10.

Realme C3 is the world’s first phone to be powered by MediaTek Helio G70 SoC, which is designed for entry-level gaming. Along with the chipset, the Realme C3 gets options between 3GB and 4GB of LPDDR4X RAM. There are 32GB and 64GB storage options to choose from and the dedicated microSD card allows storage expansion up to 256GB.

realme c3 mediatek helio g70 5000mah realme c3 mediatek helio g70 5000mah

The Realme C3 features a 6.52-inch HD+ LCD display with a screen-to-body ratio of 89.8%. For the phone’s back design, Realme draws inspiration from the sun’s rays with a satiny finish that gives the impression of a frosted glass back despite the use of plastic. The Realme C3 comes in Blazing Red and Frozen Blue colors inspired by lava and glaciers, respectively. The phone does not feature a fingerprint scanner and you’ll be at the discretion of face unlock.

There are dual cameras on the back including a 12MP primary sensor and a 2MP depth sensor. Besides supporting the full suite of Realme’s software features for the camera including a beauty mode and Chroma Boost, the camera also captures Full HD videos and 120fps slow-motion videos at 480p resolution. The selfie camera has a resolution of 5MP and can also capture Full HD video at 30fps.

realme c3 mediatek helio g70 5000mah realme c3 mediatek helio g70 5000mah realme c3 mediatek helio g70 5000mah realme c3 mediatek helio g70 5000mah

The phone is designed to cater to the entertainment needs of the users in the target segment and therefore, it comes with 5,000mAh battery. It supports charging at 10W via the micro USB port at the bottom.

Software-wise, the Realme C3 runs the recently announced Realme UI based on Android 10. While there is no promise on the frequency of updates, Reame’s track record gives us hope that we can expect regular security updates at least for the first year. Considering the Realme C2 is also being updated to Android 10 later this year, we might also see an Android 11 update for the new device but only time will tell how soon we get it – if we do.

Realme C3 Specifications

Specifications Realme C3
Dimensions & Weight
  • 164.4 x 75.0 x 8.95 mm
  • 195g
Display
  • 6.52-inch LCD
  • 720 x 1600
  • 20:9 aspect ratio
  • Gorilla Glass 3
SoC
  • MediaTek Helio G70 (12nm)
    • 2 x Arm Cortex-A75 @ 2.0GHz
    • 6 x Arm Cortex-A55 @ 1.7GHz
  • Mali G52 GPU
RAM 3GB/4GB
Storage 32GB/64GB eMMC
Dedicated microSD slot
Battery 5000mAh, 10W charging via microUSB
Fingerprint Sensor NA
Rear Camera
  • 12MP, f/1.8
  • 2MP depth sensor, f/2.4
  • 1080p video recording @ 30fps
  • 480p slow-motion @ 120fps
Front Camera
  • 5MP, f/2.0
  • Full HD video recording @ 30fps
Android Version Realme UI based on Android 10
Colors Frozen Blue, Blazing Red

Price & Availability

The 3GB/32GB variant of Realme C3 comes for ₹6,999 while the 4GB/64GB variant is priced at ₹7,999. The first online sale for the smartphone will take place at noon on February 14th, 2020 on Flipkart and Realme’s online store. It will also be available at offline stores starting February 20th.

Buy Realme C3 on Flipkart (starting at ₹6,999)

The post Realme C3 launches in India with MediaTek Helio G70, 5,000mAh battery, and Realme UI appeared first on xda-developers.



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Netflix for Android now streams some shows in AV1 to save data

The Alliance for Open Media came out with the royalty-free AOMedia Video 1 (AV1) codec all the way back in 2017 in a bid to replace H.264 as the primary codec for online streaming and media consumption. The new codec offered around 30% better compression than Google’s previous VP9 standard without hampering the picture quality. The codec made its way over to Google Chrome with the Chrome 70 update back in October 2018, when Google added an AV1 decoder to the browser with MP4 being used as the supported container (ISO-BMFF). Early last year, following the first rollout of Android 10 beta 1, we learned that Google had added support for the AV1 codec on the platform. Soon thereafter, popular video streaming platform Vimeo added support for the royalty-free AV1 codec and now Netflix seems to be following in its footsteps.

As per a recent blog post from Netflix, the company announced support for the AV1 codec on its Android app. As per the post, selected titles on the streaming service are now available in AV1 for “customers who wish to reduce the cellular data usage by enabling the ‘Save Data’ feature.” The codec will offer 20% improved compression efficiency of Netflix’s VP9 encodes, which will drastically reduce mobile data usage while streaming. Additionally, Netflix also revealed that its AV1 support on Android makes use of the open-source dav1d decoder. For the unaware, the dav1d decoder was built by the VideoLAN, VLC, and FFmpeg communities and sponsored by the Appliance for Open Media, of which Netflix is a founding member. The streaming service has optimized the decoder to play Netflix content, which is 10-bit color. In order to make AV1 widely available, Netflix is also sponsoring an open-source effort to optimize 10-bit performance even further.

As of now, the AV1 codec is limited to Netflix on Android. But as the codec performance improves over time, the company plans to expand support to more use cases. It’s worth noting that the recently launched MediaTek Dimensity 1000 is the only SoC that supports hardware-accelerated decoding on AV1, so devices with other SoCs will have to do software decoding, which is resource-intensive and could lead to higher battery drain. However, Netflix has revealed that it’s working with device and chipset partners to extend AV1 support to more hardware.


Source: The Netflix Tech Blog

Via: Android Police

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mercredi 5 février 2020

Xiaomi Mi 10 will feature Micron’s LPDDR5 RAM

At the Snapdragon Tech Summit last year, Xiaomi confirmed that its upcoming flagship — the Xiaomi Mi 10 — would feature Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 865 SoC. Soon thereafter, we also confirmed that the company was planning on launching another device alongside the Mi 10 — the Mi 10 Pro. The pro version was spotted in an MIUI 11 build for the Redmi K30 5G, which confirmed the names of the two devices along with their marketing names. At the time, we also learned that the Mi 10 Pro will also feature 66-watt fast charging but we didn’t know much else about the two devices. Earlier this month, we managed to obtain build.prop files for the two devices which confirmed that they’d also include a 108MP primary sensor. Now, we have some more information about Xiaomi’s upcoming flagship Mi 10.

According to a recent report from a Chinese publication, American memory manufacturer Micron has managed to mass-produce the world’s first low-power LPDDR5 DRAM chip which will be used in upcoming high-end smartphones. Micron’s LPDDR5 RAM makes use of advanced packing technology that allows the company to cram 12GB of RAM on a single die. The RAM boasts of a transmission rate of up to 6.4 Gbps, which is nearly twice as fast as LPDDR4, 20% faster than LPDDR4x, and features a 50% improvement in data access speed. In terms of power consumption, the LPDDR5 module reduces power consumption by more than 20% compared to the previous generation.

Additionally, the report also reveals that the Xiaomi Mi 10 will be the first device to feature the new LPDDR5 module. This information has been confirmed by Xiaomi’s CEO and co-founder Lei Jun through Weibo. In a recent post on the Chinese social media platform, Jun revealed that the company initially planned on including the LPDDR5 module only on premium variants of the Mi 10. However, owing to the significant improvement in performance, the company chose to include the new LPDDR5 module in all Mi 10 variants.

Micron further claims that LPDDR5 powered devices will have 5-10% improvement in battery life while delivering better operation speeds. Compared to LPDDR4 RAM modules, the new faster RAM can also improve performance in demanding AR apps, reduce processing time for 100MP photos and high-resolution video editing. The company believes that devices equipped with LPDDR5 RAM will include 8GB or 12GB of memory in the first half of this year, but could bump up to 16GB in the second half. This leads us to believe that the Xiaomi Mi 10 could feature up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM.


Source: Sina, Weibo (1,2)

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Exclusive: This is Motorola’s Next 5G Phone with a Curved “Waterfall” 90Hz Display

Motorola recently celebrated the success of its Moto G line, and later this month at MWC 2020, the Lenovo-owned company will introduce 3 new devices to the Moto G line. Alongside the new smartphones in the Moto G series, Motorola is also expected to launch two new high-end smartphones. Motorola notably hasn’t launched a flagship phone since the Moto Z3, and even that device could barely pass as a flagship given it featured a then year-old Snapdragon 835. Today, we’ve received the first live images of one of the two new Motorola devices from our trusted source, and we’ve also gathered a lot of information about the specifications and features of the two phones. We’ve heard the marketing name “Motorola One 2020” used in reference to these phones, though we aren’t 100% confident that Motorola will go ahead with this branding. In any case, here’s what we know.

The Motorola One 2020 Series

Design and Display

Smartphones with curved displays have been around for years since Samsung’s Galaxy Note Edge, but it’s only recently that we’ve seen curved displays that wrap almost entirely around the sides of the phone. The industry seems to have settled on the term “waterfall” to describe these extremely curved displays, and examples of these displays can be seen on the Vivo Nex 3 5G and Huawei Mate 30 Pro.

Left: Huawei Mate 30 Pro. Right: Vivo Nex 3 5G. Image via Max Weinbach.

Motorola’s upcoming upper mid-range and flagship phones will feature really curved displays approaching “waterfall” status, though judging by the images I’ve received, the curved edges are slightly less dramatic than those on the Vivo or Huawei phones. XDA’s Max Weinbach, who has both the Vivo Nex 3 and Huawei Mate 30 Pro, agrees that the device seems to have an “80% waterfall” display. In one of the images we were sent, we see what appears to be a volume rocker on the right, a component that’s notably missing on the Vivo and Huawei phones. Motorola internally refers to the display as a “waterfall” display, though I don’t know if that’s how they’ll actually be marketing it. We’ll have to wait for the company to show the device to the press at MWC 2020 to confirm.

These images were sent to us by a trusted source. We edited out the background as well as any information on the screen that could potentially be identifying.

Another feature of the display is the single hole-punch in the top left corner where a front-facing camera resides. Motorola has used hole-punch displays on its smartphones in the past, starting with the Motorola One Vision, but the hole-punches on earlier smartphones were quite large. In contrast, the hole-punch on the upcoming Motorola One 2020 seems to be much smaller. I’m unsure if Motorola is using a Samsung-made OLED hole-punch display on these new phones versus the BOE-sourced LCDs on its older phones. What I do know is that these phones will be Motorola’s first to support higher-than-60 refresh rates—specifically, these phones will be capable of a 90Hz refresh rate at Full-HD+ resolution. Motorola will, therefore, be joining a growing list of brands offering smartphones with high refresh rate displays.

Specifications

During Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Tech Summit, Motorola confirmed that they would ship a phone with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765/765G as well as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865. Thus, it should come as no surprise to hear that these two phones are running on Qualcomm’s latest chips. The upper mid-range model is code-named “racer 5G” or just “racer” whereas the flagship model is code-named “burton,” though I’ve also heard it referred to internally as “racer turbo.” Both devices appear to have the same display, that being a 6.67-inch 2340×1080 curved panel running at a 90Hz refresh rate, though I can only truly confirm this to be the case for “racer 5G.” Racer 5G will have either the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 or 765G, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage, a 48MP primary rear camera, a 4660mAh battery, support for NFC, and will run Android 10 out of the box. On the other hand, “burton” will have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, 8 or 12GB of RAM, a 5170mAh battery, and will also run Android 10, though I don’t know any details about this device’s storage capacity, cameras, or connectivity.

I’ve heard the name “Motorola One 5G 2020” in reference to racer 5G and “Motorola One 2020” in reference to burton, which raises the question of why racer 5G’s marketing name has “5G” branding in its name while burton’s does not. Both the Snapdragon 765/765G and the Snapdragon 865 support 5G modems; in the Snapdragon 765’s case, the 5G modem (Snapdragon X52) is integrated into the SoC, while in the Snapdragon 865’s case, the 5G modem (Snapdragon X55) is a discrete, yet required unit. I don’t think it’s likely that the Motorola One 2020/burton will miss out on 5G connectivity, though it’s possible that Motorola may sell the device without 5G support enabled in certain markets to drive down costs. For instance, Motorola will very likely be selling burton in the U.S. on Verizon under the “Motorola Edge+” name, and it’s likely the carrier will market the phone as supporting its growing 5G network. The Motorola Edge+ branding was first revealed by Evan Blass late last month. The existence of this branding is corroborated by multiple benchmark listings for the Motorola Edge+ with build names referencing “burton_vzw,” CPU and GPU configurations matching the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, and overall scores matching those of devices based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 “kona” test platform.

Specification Racer Burton
Model XT2063-3 ???
Display 6.67-inch 2340×1080 curved display @ 90Hz 6.67-inch 2340×1080 curved display @ 90Hz
SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 Qualcomm Snapdragon 865
RAM 6GB 8GB/12GB
Storage 128GB ???
Rear Camera(s) 48MP + ??? ???
Front Camera(s) ??? ???
Battery 4660mAh 5169mAh
Connectivity NFC, at least one variant with dual SIM ???
Software Android 10 Android 10
Possible Marketing Name Motorola One 5G 2020 Motorola One 2020/Motorola Edge+

Software

Motorola will launch several new software applications with the Motorola One 2020 series. The applications include:

  • Moto Edge Assistant: An application to customize tap actions on the curved edges. The user can customize the edge area to minimize unintended actions, or they can customize a double-tap gesture to launch certain shortcuts such as switching between applications.
  • Moto Gametime: An application to provide quick access to certain tools and settings to improve your mobile gaming experience. You can either tap a floating button or swipe in from one of the sides to access the toolbar. The toolbar can contain up to 2 application shortcuts that open in freeform multi-window mode when launched. In the settings of Moto Gametime, the user can choose to block notifications or incoming calls from interrupting gameplay, and the user can also lock the brightness level to prevent unintended adjustments from the auto-brightness.
  • Moto Audio: An audio-tuning app that can automatically adjust the audio profile to best match the current content. For example, the voice profile can boost voice clarity during calls or voice recordings. The user can create profiles for audio accessories connected via Bluetooth or USB-C, or they can pick from existing profiles such as ones for gaming, movies, or music.

The Moto Edge Assistant app will be exclusive to the Motorola One 2020 series since those are Motorola’s only phones with curved edges. The Moto Gametime app may come to other Motorola devices such as the upcoming Moto G Stylus, though I’m unsure if the Moto Audio app will be available for other devices.

Launch Date and Pricing

We expect Motorola to unveil these two smartphones at MWC 2020 later this month. We don’t know when the phones will go on sale or at what prices they’ll be sold at. We’ll likely learn more information in the coming days leading up to MWC.

The post Exclusive: This is Motorola’s Next 5G Phone with a Curved “Waterfall” 90Hz Display appeared first on xda-developers.



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Android Auto starts showing speed limits during Google Maps navigation for many users

Knowing the speed limit is a critical part of being a safe driver, but it’s not always easy to know it. Some roads are poorly marked, and you certainly can’t base it on how others are driving. Thankfully, Google has shown the speed limit in the Google Maps mobile app for a while now, but it has never migrated over to Android Auto in the car dashboard for most users. That appears to have recently started changing for many users.

The Google Maps mobile app has shown the speed limit for over a year. When using turn-by-turn navigation, you’ll see a little speed limit icon in the bottom left corner. This is great, but it has never shown up in Google Maps for Android Auto. Obviously, that would be super useful as well. According to users on Reddit, it’s finally present in the Android Auto screen.

The rollout of this feature appears to be very sporadic. Some report having seen it for months while others still don’t see it. The rollout also appears to be happening in multiple countries as people in the US and the UK are reporting it. If you do have it in Google Maps on the Android Auto screen, it appears in the bottom left corner in a floating circle icon while using navigation.


Source: Reddit

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