Android

Android Authority spotted a change to the Android Beta Exit release notes that reveals Google won’t be rolling out the update next month.

Just scroll to the bottom of your email, tap on the text box to start drafting your reply, and then tap the send icon to send it off, according to a Google blog post.

If you just got a Pixel 9 and you want to do more than potentially break the long held social contract we all shared around photos than soon you’ll be able to put the excellent Arc browser on it!

The program, which paid security researchers up to $20,000 to locate vulnerabilities in popular Android apps, is being shuttered after seven years due to “a decrease in the number of actionable vulnerabilities reported.”

As reported by Bleeping Computer, Google is testing a new experimental flag that can hide sensitive content while “screen sharing, screen recording and similar actions” in regular tabs — redacting the user’s entire screen if things like credit card details or passwords are detected.

After a recent update, Android Auto now displays a circle with Google Assistant’s trademark four-color bar along its edge when the voice assistant is waiting for a reply from users.

The new and improved desktop mode coming to Android 15 could run directly on a tablet — not just external monitors, as spotted by Android Authority. That makes it sound even more like Samsung’s DeX, which became available on tablets in 2018.

You may need to close and reopen the app to see it, but according to Android expert Mishaal Rahman, Gemini is showing up for non-Google Workspace users.

BleepingComputer points out the notes for this month’s Android security patch, with fixes for flaws that could allow someone to take over your device. The 2024-08-05 patch level specifically addresses a kernel flaw tagged CVE-2024-36971 which “may be under limited, targeted exploitation” already, so be sure to update your devices ASAP.

A new “Everything else” option under “Add to Wallet” is now rolling out to the app that uses AI to process things like concert tickets or insurance cards to make custom digital passes. Before, you could save photos of cards with bar codes or QR codes to the Wallet app — this sounds better.

The Android feature now includes a new “About this image” tab that can instantly pull up an image’s metadata, source, and whether a Google AI watermark is present to help determine its legitimacy.

This teardown of the new Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 has a similar feel to Allison’s Z Fold 6 review — things inside are mostly the same as the previous generation. There are bigger batteries and other tweaks, but the similar layouts show how Samsung is iterating on the existing design, so hopefully, you think it’s already good enough.

According to IDC research, the rise of domestic smartphone brands has knocked Apple out of the top five spot. Apple, which now sits in sixth place, saw a 3.1 percent year-on-year decline even as the Chinese market grew by 8.9 percent. At least it’s doing better than Samsung which doesn’t even get a mention, despite dominating sales in the region a decade ago.

The company’s “Z60 Ultra Leading Version” (yes, that’s the name) has optical image stabilization on all its rear cameras, including two 50MP main and wide-angle ones, and the 64MP “Portrait Prime” shooter.

The professional-grade video recording app debuted on Android in June but was only available on a small number of Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel devices.