Working from home should mean you can forget about outward appearances and focus on being productive in your PJs. At least, that was the case until Zoom took off. Now we must all be ready for a video ambush.YouCam 9 Deluxe for Windowsmakes it easier to look the part on camera, with smart skin enhancement and hundreds of filters. Right now, you canpick up the software for $34.99at the XDA Developers Depot.
If you have the kind of boss who constantly wants to “jump on a call”, you might want to invest in YouCam 9 Deluxe. This software acts like digital make-up, allowing you to appear well-groomed in a pinch and without putting in the effort—perfect if you’ve just rolled out of bed five minutes before your call.
On top of the cosmetic enhancements, YouCam also sports augmented reality effects, customized titles, and images that you can leverage in your calls to liven things up, whether you’re tuning in for your daily stand-up meeting or trying to impress a potential client remotely.
Rated as “Excellent” by Softpedia, YouCam 9 Deluxe works with most video calling apps — including Skype and Hangouts. You can also use YouCam for live streaming, with support for Facebook, Twitch, YouTube, and other major platforms.
Tasker is the most popular automation app for Android and for good reason. The app allows you to create Profiles that automatically trigger based on certain conditions to execute Tasks and it offers a wide variety of plugins that can help you automate pretty much anything you can imagine. On top of that, the developer behind the app releases regular updates with support for even more new features. For instance, a recent beta release of the app introduced a new feature called “Contact Via App” that allows you to automate WhatsApp calls. Now, the app is getting another significant update in the beta channel which brings even more to the table.
As per a recent post on Reddit, Tasker v5.9.3.beta.5 is now rolling out to users and it includes quite a few interesting new features. Here are some of the most noteworthy changes in the latest Tasker beta release:
Find All Custom Settings
Tasker v5.2 added custom setting support which allows you to modify values in your phone stored in the Settings.Global, Settings.Secure, and Settings.System tables if you grant Tasker the WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS (via ADB/root) and WRITE_SETTINGS (via system permissions page) permissions. While this is tremendously useful in automating the various settings on your device, it required users to find out what settings are available on their device by themselves, because every device/OEM software has different settings.
Up until now, the easiest way for users to find out what settings were available was to run the following 3 commands via ADB on their PC or in a rooted shell on their phone:
settings list secure
settings list global
settings list system
Earlier this year, however, Tasker 5.9.2 beta added a new “ADB WiFi” option that lets you launch Tasker with ADB shell-like privileges. Thus allowing users to run ADB shell commands without first connecting their phones to their PC. To capitalize on this Tasker 5.9.3.beta.5 will internally run the aforementioned 3 commands to list all the available settings values.
Send WhatsApp Text Messages
As mentioned earlier, Tasker 5.9.3.beta.4 added a “Contact Via App” option to automate calls in WhatsApp and other messaging services. With the latest beta release, Tasker now also lets you automatically send a text message in WhatsApp. To get started, select the “Contact Via App” Action in a Task and then follow the instructions in the video below to set up automated texts for any contact on your device.
New ADB WiFi Helper Actions
Along with the aforementioned feature to find all custom settings, the ADB WiFi feature in Tasker now also offers support for more Actions. These include:
Clearing an app’s data
Freezing/unfreezing apps
Taking a screenshot without user interaction
Toggling SIM card on or off
Uninstalling an app
Check out the video demo below to see how you can set up these Actions:
While these Actions were already possible in the previous version of Tasker, the app required you to know the right ADB commands (pm, screencap, svc, etc.) to perform them. With the latest update, Tasker now handles that for you. However, it’s worth noting that you’ll need to run a script on your PC to set up the feature and you will need to re-run this script on every boot of your phone.
Full Changelog
Added option to send text when opening a Whatsapp Profile with the “Contact Via App” action
The “Contact Via App” action will now show the normal Android System contact picker to select a contact if no app is selected
Added option to back out of messaging window in the “Contact Via App” action when some text is sent
Made both “Contact” and “App” fields in the “Contact Via App” action optional. If left blank will be asked when the task is ran.
When you use the helper in the “Custom Setting” action and you have “ADB Wifi” enabled, you’ll get the real values from your device instead of the pre-baked-in ones from the developer so you’re more likely to find settings for your specific device
Added “Clear App Data”, “Freeze/Unfreeze App”, “Take Screenshot”, “Toggle SIM Card” and “Uninstall App” to the ADB Wifi Helper
Changed main Tasker notification when no profiles are active to show the total number of existing profiles
When a variable’s value is an empty String it’ll now be considered a not set variable by Tasker in any condition in the app
When importing a Task or Profile from Taskernet, Tasker will ask in which project you want to put the imported item
Fixed using “eval(variable)” in Javascript actions where “variable” contains some Javascript code
Made first visible index in “List Dialog” 0 by default so that the arrow of the selected item doesn’t show up by default
Made clicking the text of an item in the “List Dialog” action in Multiple selection mode also check the checkbox
Make dialog that shows up when exiting Tasker not dismissable
When an online help file can’t be reached only offer to email support about it if user has a working internet connection
Don’t allow new task names with the ‘%’ character in their names
Fixed moving files in some situations
Fixed “File Closed” event
Added support for HTML in “List Dialog” action
Made %evtprm(1) (file path) in “File Modified” event be url decoded so it can be used right away
Fixed crash on startup in some situations
Fixed using the “write” function in the “Keyboard” action in some special cases
Added support for 5G in “Mobile Network Type” action
Fixed minor bugs
Along with these new features, the latest Tasker beta update includes several other changes that you can see in the changelog section above. If you’re interested in trying out these features for yourself, you can enroll in the Tasker beta by following this link and then download the latest release from the Play Store link below. Alternatively, you can also download Tasker 5.9.3.beta.5 directly from the Dropbox link below.
Xiaomi’s sub-brand POCO stunned smartphone enthusiasts around the world with its first smartphone – the POCO/Pocophone F1. This barebones flagship killer appeased the users who demanded excellent performance while compromising on other things including display or charging. The XDA Forums for the device are abundant with custom ROMs, recoveries, and mods, thanks to the factor of affordability attached to the phone. But after launching the POCO F1 in 2018, the brand went into a limbo of nearly 18 months, and only resurfaced earlier in 2020 as an independent entity to launch the POCO X2 (review), which left the entire community dazed and yearning for the real POCO F1 successor. Now, after a seemingly endless wait, the POCO F1’s successor – the POCO F2 Pro – is finally launching on May 12th.
POCO Global took to Twitter to announce the launch of the POCO F2 Pro. The event on May 12th is likely targetted at the European consumers and will take place online citing restrictions and limitations due to COVID-19.
Back in March, POCO India’s GM had reportedly asserted that the POCO F2 will not be a rebranded Redmi K30 Pro. That may be a different SKU but it’s not quite evident whether it will be another rebranded Xiaomi or Redmi phone or a new device altogether. Meanwhile, POCO might also launch another mid-ranger in India before the POCO F2 or F2 Pro and it could be called the POCO M2 Pro, which is likely to be a rebranded global Redmi Note 9 Pro (or the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max in India).
An increasing number of OnePlus users are reporting a strange bug on their devices that swaps the left and right audio channels while using wired earphones. While bug seems to primarily affect OnePlus 7 series devices, there are reports that go back as far as the OnePlus One. As Android Police points out, the reports don’t have a common denominator and the issue is consistent across both OnePlus’ official accessories and third-party earphones.
The bug was first brought to light in a post on the OnePlus Community forums all the way back in December 2014 and, since then, several users have reported facing the issue with various devices on Reddit and also on XDA Forums. While the number of reports isn’t very large, it’s quite possible that a vast majority of affected users haven’t even realized that there’s an issue if they just use wired earphones to listen to music or take calls.
Even though the bug may seem quite minor for those of you who just use your earphones to listen to music, it could lead to major issues if you use wired earphones with your device while playing games. Several games, including popular titles like PUBG Mobile and COD: Mobile, make use of spatial audio to help players figure out the location of enemies on the map. Therefore, having the audio channels reversed could make the games virtually unplayable.
As of now, there’s no permanent solution for the bug, but some users have found success using media players that can swap channels, rooting their phones, or even listening to audio in mono. However, none of these are great solutions, especially for gaming. It’s also worth noting that the bug doesn’t seem to affect wireless earphones. Android Police has reached out to OnePlus for a comment and the company is currently investigating the issue. We’ll update this post as soon as we receive any update from OnePlus.
According to users on Russian forum 4PDA, Sony is pushing the stable Android 10 update to Xperia 10 and 10 Plus users. The software version is 53.1.A.2.2 (bumped from 53.0.A.14.47) with the March 2020 Android Security Patch Level and is available for both the single SIM (10: I3113 / 10 Plus: I3213) and dual SIM (10: I4113 / 10 Plus: I4213) models in Russia and other European countries.
Sony hasn’t published a proper changelog for this update as of yet, but the new build should introduce all the new features to the Xperia 10 series that Google rolled out with Android 10, including a system-wide dark mode, gesture navigation, smart replies, and more. The update is being rolled out in a staggered fashion in order to ensure a smooth rollout, but the full firmware package can also downloaded using the XperiFirm tool by XDA Senior Member IgorEisberg. Power users can then opt for either Flashtool (GUI) or Newflasher (CUI) to perform a manual flashing, though we would still advise caution.
Both Xperia 10 devices feature 64GB of internal storage, a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, headphone jack, SD card slot, USB-C, and NFC. The primary difference between the two is in terms of processing power. While the Xperia 10 Plus is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 platform, the other one is powered by a slightly less-powerful Snapdragon 630 SoC. The regular model also features a depth sensor, which is substituted by an 8MP telephoto shooter on the Plus variant.
While Windows Mobile may have lost the race to Android, Microsoft is far from giving up on the mobile platform. Over the last couple of years, the company has released a number of successful apps, both on Android and iOS, that address several shortcomings on both the platforms. Some of these apps, including ones from Microsoft’s Office suite, SMS Organizer, and Microsoft Launcher, have reached immense popularity and have amassed several million users around the world. The company keeps adding new apps to its portfolio ever so often and, just a couple of months ago, it released the Microsoft Math Solver app on Android, which harnesses the power of AI to solve basic and complex math problems. Adding on to its ever-growing list of useful apps, the company is now rolling out the Bing Wallpapers app on the Google Play Store.
If you’ve ever used Microsoft’s Bing search engine before, you’d know that it displays a great selection of curated wallpapers on the homepage each day. This feature is quite popular among users who swear by the search engine, so much so that the Play Store already has several third-party wallpaper apps that are dedicated to pulling images from Bing’s homepage. As per a recent report from Android Police, Microsoft has now decided to capitalize on the demand for Bing’s homepage wallpapers and has started rolling out the Bing Wallpapers app on the Play Store.
As you’d expect, the Bing Wallpapers app sources a set of wallpapers from the search engine, which is usually a collection of well-photographed landscapes from around the world. The app updates daily with a new set of wallpapers that you can choose to set as your wallpaper. In case you don’t wish to manually select a new wallpaper every day, the app gives you the option to automatically update your device’s wallpaper with the featured image of the day. You also get the option to set an update frequency and to choose whether the app can use mobile data to source the wallpapers for the day. On top of that, the app displays a gallery of previously featured images that can be filtered by category, primary color, and country of origin. Tapping on any image brings up some information about the photo, along with buttons for sharing the photo, setting it as your current wallpaper, and looking up related images from Bing.
The Bing Wallpapers app is completely free to use and doesn’t include any ads or in-app purchases. If you’re interested in trying out the app on your device, you can either download it from the Play Store link below or you can pick up the latest release from APK Mirror.
After months of leaks and rumors, the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro were officially announced last month. The devices are now on sale in several countries and they even received their first set of software updates last week which addressed some early bugs and improved the front camera performance. Now in a bid to comply with the requirements of GPL v2 and help the custom development community get the ball rolling on building ROMs and kernels, OnePlus has released the kernel sources for the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro.
OnePlus has historically provided Day 1 kernel source code release for OnePlus phones but they’re admittedly a little late this time around. The kernel source code for the OnePlus 8 (code-name “instantnoodle”) and OnePlus 8 Pro (code-name “instantnoodlep”) have been uploaded to OnePlus’s GitHub repository and interested users can download/review the code by following the link below.
Like all Android devices, the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro run on a modified Linux kernel. Google takes a mainline Linux kernel release and then modifies it to support the latest Android release – they call this the “Android Common Kernel.” Chipset makers then take the Android Common Kernel and modify it further to make an SoC-specific kernel. OEMs/ODMs (like OnePlus) then take the SoC-specific kernel and make further changes to support their hardware or extra vendor components – we call this a device-specific kernel. Because the Linux kernel is distributed under the GNU GPL v2 license, all entities that distribute forks of the kernel (which includes Linux kernel BLOBs shipping on commercial devices) are required to provide the source code for their kernel upon request. This is the reason why OEMs have to release kernel source, and hence why OnePlus has released the device-specific kernel for the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro today.
Historically, OnePlus phones have received great support from the custom development community. With the release of kernel sources, we hope the newest OnePlus phones will receive the same level of support from the community as well, with developers bringing a wide variety of custom ROMs, kernels and mods in the coming weeks.
