Google announces a new version of Wear OS based on Android 11 with Snapdragon Wear 4100 support

Wear OS by Google, or Android Wear as some of us still keep calling it despite the rebranding years ago, does not see as much attention in the daily news, but the wearable OS is still alive and kicking. New watches from Suunto, OPPO, and Xiaomi, as well as the launch of the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 SoC for wearables, have rekindled interest in Wear OS to a degree. Now, as part of its #11WeeksOfAndroid announcements, Google has announced a new version of Wear OS that is based on Android 11 and supports Snapdragon Wear 4100.

Wear OS based on Android 11

Google is not explicitly announcing “Wear OS on Android 11” on their blog post, but they do mention that several Android 11 features will be arriving on Wear OS. We asked Google for a confirmation on this, and a  Google spokesperson has informed us that the new Wear OS version is based on Android 11. For reference, the current version of the wearable OS by Google is still based on Android 9 Pie, so this jump was needed.

The new Wear OS OTA update that will arrive in the fall brings along a fair few changes, which are summarized below:

• Faster access to info
• Simplified pairing process to make onboarding easier
• Improvements to the SysUI for more intuitive controls for managing different watch modes and workouts
• CPU Core improvements promising up to 20% speed improvements in startup times for apps
• Improved support for LTE
• Support for Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 and 4100+ platforms

In addition to these changes, a few more changes are coming, which we have already previewed in the past. For instance, Google has built a handwashing timer in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, encouraging users to practice good hygiene.

The new update will also come along with the new Weather Tile design that was spotted earlier this month. This new design makes it easier to read information while on the move, and still retains access to an hourly breakdown of the day’s weather to help users plan ahead and provide information about the important weather alerts in the area.

Further, Google is also promising to make it easier for developers to build wearable apps. You can expect to see wearable-focused improvements and changes on Android Studio, Kotlin, and Jetpack libraries. Androidx.wear 1.1.0 Release Candidate build has also been released, making it easier to build and test wearable apps.

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What are your thoughts on Wear OS based on Android 11? Let us know in the comments below!

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NVIDIA GeForce NOW adds 12 new games and a Founders bundle with Hyper Scape

NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW game-streaming service enjoys its share in the now-crowded game streaming market on the fact that it was one of the first to appear for end consumers. The service started beta testing for Android last year and opened up for everyone in February. NVIDIA had pledged to announce new games for GeForce NOW every week, and over the past months, it has kept to that promise. This week, NVIDIA is giving GeForce NOW 11 new additions, including titles like Hyper Scape, Anno 2205, Neon Abyss, alongside Two Point Hospital as a returning title. Further, GeForce NOW is also adding in a Founders Bundle with Hyper Scape Season 1 battle pass.

These are the titles that have made their way to NVIDIA GeForce NOW this week:

• Steam:
  • Company of Crime
  • Ageless
  • Granado Espada
  • Neon Abyss
  • STORY OF SEASONS: Friends of Mineral Town
  • The Escapists
  • Warface
• Uplay:
  • Hyper Scape
  • Anno 2205
• Epic Games Store:
  • Remnant: From The Ashes
  • South Park: The Fracture But Whole
• Returning:
  • Two Point Hospital

Of these, Hyper Scape and Company of Crime are new game launches, having launched on August 11 and August 8 respectively on their platforms. Further, Remnant: From The Ashes is also available for free on the Epic Games Store from today till August 19.

In addition to the new titles available on GeForce Now, NVIDIA also said that it’s adding Highlights support to Hyper Scape. NVIDIA Highlights allows users to record exciting gameplay moments that can be shared later.

Further, NVIDIA is also offering new as well as existing members to sign up for a limited time, 6-month GeForce NOW Membership for $24.95, packing in additional content for Hyper Scape such as:

• Season One Battle Pass Token
• Exclusive Adi Volta Champion Skin (Rare)
• Exclusive Volta Drop Pod (Rare)
• Citric Dragonfly Weapon Skin (Rare)
• Boxer Shuffle Emote (Epic)

Existing Founders members will be able to stack this offer with their existing membership, meaning they will continue to receive their locked-in rate of $4.99 per month for 12 months, plus the 6-month membership from this Hyper Scape Bundle.

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NVIDIA GeForce NOW (Free, Google Play) →

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Microsoft Surface Duo will get 3 years of OS and security updates, will have an unlockable bootloader

Yesterday, Microsoft officially announced the Surface Duo, their latest attempt at a mobile smartphone. It is a super cool looking dual-screen device running Android, which will also be known as the first Android device from Microsoft. With Android devices, one of the most important questions has been how many years of Android updates the device will receive, as this is crucial to the overall experience. Until recently, most Android OEMs only provided 2 years of updates. Now, Google and Samsung have promised 3 years of Android updates for their flagship devices. Microsoft is now also joining that three-years-of-update group with the Surface Duo.

Microsoft Surface Duo XDA Forums

Earlier today, a Microsoft representative confirmed to us that the Surface Duo would be receiving 3 years of both OS and security updates. The device is launching with Android 10, which means it should receive up to Android 13 in OS updates. Microsoft did not specify the frequency of security updates, but for the first year, they are required to provide quarterly security updates. In comparison, the most competitive dual screen to the Surface Duo is the LG Velvet, and LG has only committed to 2 years of updates which will historically take years to get released.

Further, Microsoft also confirmed to us that the Surface Duo will have an unlockable bootloader. This means you will be able to easily root it, mod it, or throw a custom ROM on there. Personally, I am waiting for a stereo speaker mod since the device only has a mono speaker. The interest from the community will dictate what custom works are available, which is where the $1,399 price tag might hurt a little. There is no information on whether unlocking the bootloader would void the warranty — but if we had to take a guess, we would say that it would void the warranty. We’ll update the article when we get more information in this regard.

All around, Microsoft is showing it is serious about the Surface Duo and the product line. Committing to three years of updates is a big deal, and is starting to become the standard for flagship Android devices. Hopefully, Microsoft won’t become the next LG in delayed updates Committing to providing the updates is a good first step, and bootloader unlockability will help it gain favor among the enthusiasts and meta-influencers.

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Unofficial Pixel Experience and TWRP are already available for the new OnePlus Nord

Third-party development for the OnePlus Nord is on full-swing on our forums, even though it’s just been over a week since the device went on sale. XDA Senior Member Some_Random_Username has already released a guide to root the device using Magisk and now, developers have released unofficial builds of the Pixel Experience custom ROM and TWRP custom recovery for the device.

OnePlus Nord XDA Forums

How to Root the OnePlus Nord with Magisk

Unofficial TWRP recovery for the OnePlus Nord

XDA Recognized Developer mauronofrio has released an unofficial build of the TWRP custom recovery (v3.4.0-0) for the OnePlus Nord. You can download and flash the custom recovery on your device by following the instruction in the XDA forums thread linked below, after which you’ll be able to flash a custom ROM on the device. However, since this is an early build of the TWRP recovery, some features don’t work as expected. Here’s a list of all the things that you can and can’t do with the current version of TWRP:

• TWRP boots
• Decryption works
• ROM flashing should work
• Backups are broken
• Flash partition is broken for system and vendor
• Don’t wipe or format system and vendor partitions
• Format/wipe data is broken

Download Unofficial TWRP (v3.4.0-0)

Unofficial Pixel Experience ROM

An unofficial build of the Android 10-based Pixel Experience ROM is now also available for the OnePlus Nord, thanks to XDA Member CryllicBuster273. To install the ROM, you’ll first need to root your OnePlus Nord by following the guide linked above and flash the unofficial TWRP recovery on the device. Then you can follow the instructions in the XDA forum thread linked below to download and flash the ROM. The custom ROM comes with Google apps built-in, so you don’t need to flash a separate GApps package after flashing the ROM.

Download Unofficial Pixel Experience ROM

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Xiaomi finally prepares to roll out Android 9 Pie to the Mi Box 3

Launched back in 2016, the Xiaomi Mi Box 3 was a forerunner of today’s Mi Box 4K or the Mi TV Stick. Matter of fact, the “Mi Box” sold in the U.S. is nothing but a rebranded Mi Box 3. The Chinese OEM shipped the device with Android Marshmallow, skipped the promised Nougat update, and directly jumped to Android Oreo. While its successor, the Mi Box S, did pick up the Android Pie update a few months ago, the owners of the Mi Box 3 are stuck with Android Oreo till date. If you are still holding onto the older Mi Box, you will be excited to know that Xiaomi is now pushing out the long-anticipated Android Pie update for the Mi Box 3 to select beta testers.

The initial public beta build (software version R2810) is meant for the MDZ-16-AB variant of the Mi Box 3 and it is coming in at nearly 620MB. The included changelog is hilariously tiny, thus all we know that the OTA brings in Android Pie to the nifty set-top box alongside the support for the Mi Remote app. Despite there is no ETA on when the stable build will land, it would be the third major Android OS update for the device (counting the unreleased Android Nougat build), which is quite impressive for such an affordable certified Android TV box.

Thanks to Reddit user u/Askmetech for the screenshot!

Considering the internal similarities between the Mi Box 3 (code-name: once) and the Mi Box S/Mi Box 4K (code-name: oneday), we hope that the aforementioned Android Pie beta firmware comes with most of the bugfix patches from the latter’s stable Android Pie build. Note that the firmware packages for these two streaming devices are not compatible with each other, so do not try to perform a cross-flash.

The Mi Box 3 supports 4K video playback at 60fps, thanks to the quad-core Amlogic SoC with the Mali 450 GPU and 2GB of RAM inside the device. There’s also support for Dolby Digital Plus audio playback, albeit the beta firmware reportedly breaks HD Audio passthrough for some users.

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Files by Google prepares to add a Favorites folder

Files by Google was launched in November 2017 as a way to let Android Go users better manage storage space on their phones. Formally known as “Google Files Go”, Google later decided to make the app available for all Android phones through the Google Play Store. Since its inception, Files by Google has gone from being a barebones storage space organizer to become a better-equipped file manager that comes preinstalled on Google Pixel and Android One smartphones. It has gained several exciting features over time, including a dark theme, built-in media player, faster offline sharing, and more. In its most recent update, the app received the Safe Folder feature, letting users hide their sensitive files behind a 4-digit PIN. Now, the app is preparing for a new feature called Favorites folder to let you organize your favorite files in one place for quick access.

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.

Our Editor-in-Chief, Mishaal Rahman, has discovered some strings for this feature in the Files by Google version 1.0.325710463. He managed to surface the menu options for the Favorites folder and was able to add a file to it, but the folder itself wasn’t viewable.

The Favorites folder will be a useful addition as it would allow you to access all your favorite and most frequently accessed docs, PDFs, and media files in one place. You won’t have to dig deep into a pile of folders and subfolders every time you want to access that specific file. Just adding it to the Favorite folder will ensure you can quickly reach it whenever you need. A lot of file managers offer this function, so this addition inches along feature parity with the competition.

For now, the feature remains a work-in-progress and isn’t available in the most recent version of the Files by Google app. As and when Google will decide to incorporate it into the app, we’ll sure to let you know.

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Files by Google: Clean up space on your phone (Free, Google Play) →

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Download MIUI 12’s new Super Saturn Wallpaper from the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra

Xiaomi officially announced its newest Android skin — MIUI 12 — earlier this year in April. As with all previous MIUI releases, the latest software update from the Chinese OEM included a bunch of new static and live wallpapers. Shortly after the official announcement, XDA Recognized Contributor linuxct managed to port the new Super Earth and Mars live wallpapers to other devices and later added two more options — Hale crater and Evergreen garden — to the list. Xiaomi recently released another set of live wallpapers with its 10th-anniversary special Mi 10 Ultra and you can now download it for your device.

This is Faraway Rings, the Super Wallpaper featured in the Mi 10 Ultra, ported to work on any Android device running Android 8.0 and above! This first video shows the Vertical version of it. pic.twitter.com/Lpq8V5iCxm

— linuxct (@linuxct) August 12, 2020

The new MIUI 12 Super Saturn live wallpapers include two options — Faraway Rings (Horizontal) and Faraway Rings (Vertical) — both of which can now be installed on any Android device running Android 8.0 or newer. As you can see in the embedded tweets, the Faraway Rings (Horizontal) wallpaper gives you a close look at Saturn’s rings in a horizontal orientation, while the Faraway Rings (Vertical) wallpaper aligns the rings in a vertical orientation. Both the wallpapers show a zoomed out version of the ringed planet on the lockscreen and unlocking the device zooms into the rings, with floating asteroids that move when you switch pages.

And this second video shows the Horizontal version of it, just like I showed a few hours ago. pic.twitter.com/dx3cWqSwNT

— linuxct (@linuxct) August 12, 2020

If you’re interested in trying out MIUI 12’s new Super Saturn live wallpapers on your device, you can download the respective APKs from the download link below. Once you have the APK installed on your device, you can pick the new live wallpapers from the stock wallpaper picker on your device. In case the wallpapers don’t show up in the stock wallpaper picker, you can download the Google Wallpaper app from the Play Store to apply the live wallpapers.

Download MIUI 12 Super Saturn Wallpaper port

MIUI 12 Super Wallpaper — XDA Forum Thread

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