By pushing the boundaries in the specs race, Oppo, a previously lesser know Chinese manufacturer, has certainly made a name for itself in the international smartphone market over the past year or so. Beginning with the Find 5, one of the first smartphones to feature a 1080p display, to the Oppo N1, which boasts a unique swivelling camera, Oppo has once again hit it out of the park with its latest flagship, the Oppo Find 7, again one of the first to show off a Quad HD screen.
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Qualcomm’s next-gen flagship processor is called the Snapdragon 888, rather than the 875. The chipset supports the Snapdragon X60 5G modem, along with new AI and image processing components. Full details will land in tomorrow’s keynote on December 2. Update: December 2, 2020 at 10:24 a.m. ET: Qualcomm has unveiled more details about its next-gen processor. Read our Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 deep dive here, as well as our five key takeaways from the new processor here.
One of the best features about Android is having total control over how you customize your device. More specifically, Launchers and Skins give Android users access to tons of new user interfaces and features. In addition, a bunch of Android devices are subject to bloatware. When this happens, the average user probably is not interested in playing around with custom ROM’s or even rooting. Putting aside some of the more well known launchers, SPB Software recently release SPB Shell 3D.
Developing a game for Android can be difficult and time consuming. Fortunately, YoYo Games has created a tool that allows everyone, from complete novices to seasoned developers, to create Android games in an easier way than using Android Studio. The only downside is the price, the Android Module is $299.99, and to use it GameMaker: Studio pro is required, which is $150. But with the recent Humble Bundle deal, GameMaker: Studio pro and the Android module could be had for $12.
Data breaches are one of the biggest threats facing today’s digital landscape, owing to cyber-criminals and inadequate security measures. Fortunately, Google has announced the launch of a new tool, allowing users to act quickly.
The Password Checkup extension for Google Chrome notifies users if their website credentials (beyond just a user’s Google account) have been included in a data breach known to the search giant.
“If we detect that a username and password on a site you use is one of over 4 billion credentials that we know have been compromised, the extension will trigger an automatic warning and suggest that you change your password,” Google explained in a blog post.
If you are still using the original 2016 Pixel XL, you might be in for an unpleasant surprise when you next lock your phone.
Owners on reddit (via Android Police) say they can’t unlock their devices because they are looped back to the lock screen when they try to enter their PIN.
The issue was first reported about a month ago and seems to affect mostly Pixel XL owners. However, posts describing the same problem on the Pixel and Pixel 2/2 XL have also surfaced on various forums.
MediaTek may be most well-known for multi-core mobile system-on-a-chips and its notable share in the mid-range smartphone market. But much like its rival Qualcomm, MediaTek has been building up a selection of extra features and technologies that complement its growing mobile SoC portfolio. Here is a collection of the most important ones that you may have missed.
1 – CorePilot 3.0 Before we delve into the non-CPU related goodies, one of MediaTek’s big announcements this year was its deca-core Helio X20 mobile SoC.
As we expected, Google just launched Android 10 on Android TV. It was inevitable that the platform would get the upgrade at some point, so no surprises there. However, Google did surprise us a bit by revealing an upcoming media streaming dongle designed specifically for developers.
We’ll get to the dongle in a minute, but first, let’s discuss Android 10 on Android TV.
Additionally, Android 10 on Android TV features a few upgrades related to network connections, which will hopefully make your media streaming smoother and more reliable.
A handful of Google’s applications reside under the “Play” moniker. Play Store, Play Movies & TV, Play Music, Play Games, Play Books and Play Newsstand are all apps we’ve come to know and love over the years, but their app icons have never really been all that consistent with one another.
Thankfully that’s about to change. Google has just announced that it will soon be rolling out an update that will bring a more consistent look across the entire family of Play apps.
The long-term appeal of Android micro-consolesmight still be in question, but for now, there’s clearly a market for Android game systems. While devices like the Ouya and Gamestick go after the low-end market, Nvidia currently targets the mobile gamer with the high-end Shield. Is there room for more Android-powered game consoles? Mad Catz seems to think so.
Back in June, the accessory maker announced that its so-called Project M.O.J.O. would not only be powered by Android but would even offer Google Play right out of the box.