Spotify officially launched a new TikTok-like music discovery feed in its app.
Dubbed ‘Discover,’ the feed rolled out in a limited beta test to Android and iOS users in Canada and other regions, including Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the U.K. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, I didn’t have access to the new ‘Discover’ feature on either platform.
Users in the test can access the tool by tapping the new ‘Discover’ icon in the navigation bar (look for a new, fourth icon between the ‘Home’ and ‘Search’ buttons). Discover then shows a customized feed using Spotify’s ‘Canvas’ visual loops and plays a corresponding tune.
Those who like what they hear can follow the artist, add the song to a playlist, or share it on socials. The feed scrolls vertically, like TikTok — users can quickly move on to the next song if they don’t like what they hear.
Interestingly, Spotify will only offer up to 15 new recommendations per day, so those who use the feature won’t find themselves scrolling for long.
You can learn more about the Discover beta on Spotify’s blog here.
Twitter is working on a new feature of its Android app: the ability to select text in tweets.
This feature lands squarely in the “why the hell couldn’t we already do this?” pile, but hey, at least it’s finally happening. Twitter for Android users will finally be able to copy and paste text from tweets. Great!
Leaker Jane Manchun Wong uncovered the work-in-progress feature and tweeted about it over the weekend. Currently, the Twitter for Android app lets users copy a whole tweet (and a link to said tweet), but not highlight and select specific parts of the text.
Twitter for Android is finally working on the ability to select text on Tweet pic.twitter.com/xoqYwc7aeL
Anyway, this incredibly basic feature is finally coming to Android after an embarrassingly long time, adding another level of feature parity between the iOS and Android Twitter apps.
Researchers uncovered a previously unknown, Russian-linked Android malware that masquerades as a system app called ‘Process Manager’ while collecting a wealth of user data.
According to Lab52 (via Bleeping Computer), the malware is linked to Turla, a Russian state-sponsored hacking group. Turla is known for using custom malware to target European and American systems, typically for espionage. Moreover, Turla was recently linked to the ‘Sunburst‘ backdoor used in the 2020 SolarWinds attack.
Lab52 identified a malicious APK — the file type used for Android applications — called ‘Process Manager.’ It’s not clear how threat actors distribute the APK to users. Based on the connection to Turla, it’s possible threat actors use phishing schemes or social engineering to get the app installed on devices.
Once installed, however, the app disguises itself with a gear-shaped icon to look like a system component. Coupled with the ‘Process Manager’ name, it could be easily mistaken for part of the Android system.
On first launch, Lab52 says the app prompts the user to grant it 18 permissions, including access to location, camera, call logs, SMS, the ability to read and write to storage, and more. With these permissions, Process Manager can effectively gather a huge amount of data about the device’s owner.
Lab52 noted it’s not clear if the app uses the Android Accessibility service to grant itself permissions, or if it tricks users into granting permission.
Further, once the malware gets the permissions, it removes its icon and runs in the background. Interestingly, the app shows a notification saying that it’s running, which seems counterintuitive for a spyware app that would want to remain hidden.
Lab52 also found that the malware installed additional apps on victims’ devices, including one called ‘Roz Dhan: Earn Wallet cash,’ a popular money earning app. The malware appears to install the app using its referral system, likely earning a commission for the creators.
All this seems relatively strange for spyware — Bleeping Computer suggests the unsophisticated nature may indicate the spyware is part of a larger system.
The publication also suggests some ways Android users can protect themselves. For one, check the ‘Permission manager’ feature in the Settings app (on my phone, it’s available in the ‘Privacy’ menu). It’s a good idea to revoke permissions for any apps you don’t trust, or that appear risky. Users should also pay attention to the new camera and microphone use indicators that appear on devices running Android 12. If these indicators show up when you’re not using the camera or microphone, it could indicate the presence of spyware on your device.
Android 13 may add a new feature to embeddable SIM (eSIM) cards that would add another reason to use them over regular physical SIM cards: multiple profiles.
The new feature was uncovered by Esper’s Mishaal Rahman (via Android Police) and would effectively allow users to have multiple active SIM profiles on one eSIM. Called ‘Multiple Enabled Profiles’ (MEP), it’d fix one of the few remaining issues with eSIMs.
eSIM, for those unfamiliar with the tech, is a tiny SIM card built directly into a smartphone. Most modern smartphones have one (it’s very common now for smartphones to offer an eSIM and a physical SIM slot), although carrier support is often a mixed bag.
People with eSIM smartphones can usually activate and de-activate right from an app on their phone and through scanning QR codes, no need to contact carriers or fiddle with removing a SIM tray and adding a physical SIM card.
Currently, however, eSIMs only support one active carrier at a time. Customers can connect multiple profiles to an eSIM, but need to swap between them to switch which is active. Because of this, people who rely on dual SIM cards haven’t really adopted eSIM outside of using in along with a physical SIM card.
Using one physical SIM and one eSIM in Android 12
It’s worth noting that many phones that offer eSIM and physical SIM slots can operate two profiles at once, similar to phones with dual physical SIM slots. However, Android 13’s MEP feature uses software to run multiple simultaneous SIMs on one eSIM module, removing the need for physical SIM cards or dual-SIM set-ups.
Rahman also noted that some Android 13 APIs for MEP are present in the current developer preview, and it’s likely that Android 13 will launch with support for MEP.
Overall, it’s great news and should be another step forward in ending physical SIMs. Unfortunately, as long as carriers continue to resist the transition, eSIM likely won’t see wide adoption. Several Canadian carriers technically support eSIM, but I have yet to see any actively promote the use of eSIM over a physical SIM, or even give me the choice to use eSIM when signing up for a plan. To be fair, my current carrier (Bell) does give me the option to switch from my physical SIM to eSIM in the self-serve portal, and it appears other carriers do as well, but I had to do a bit of searching to even find the option.
Still, with eSIM being a great way for customers to quickly and easily switch providers and opening up easy access to running dual SIMs (particularly helpful for grabbing temporary plans instead of paying exorbitant roaming fees when travelling), I can see why there’s carrier hesitancy.
Google’s ‘At a Glance’ is now rolling out a Connected device Bluetooth integration for headphones.
A Reddit (mattbxb) user spotted their Bluetooth headphones connected and fully charged in the At a Glance section. The user says it only appeared briefly, but 9to5Google suspects it only shows up during the initial connection.
9to5Google says that this is a server-side update, so not everyone currently has the feature. To check, you can long-press the top of your home screen > tap customize > tap the setting gear icon, which reveals the ‘Connected Devices’ option and testing timer and stopwatch, bedtime and fitness.
Google announced this feature during its last Pixel Feature Drop, which only recently hit Pixel 6 devices. Alongside this functionality, there’s also a battery widget.
Google has launched a new Maps mobile app feature in Canada that aims to help drivers make more sustainable choices.
Called “eco-friendly driving,” the feature uses AI to analyze carbon emissions of your planned route and suggests alternative directions that would consume less fuel. The app takes into account traffic, road steepness and other variables.
As Google notes, nearly 20 percent of global CO2 emissions come from ground transportation, which was a key reason why this feature has been introduced.
Google Maps can be downloaded for free on Android and iOS.
Microsoft has taken the Your Phone app and given it a refresh in the form of a UI overhaul and new features. Moving forward, the app is now called Phone Link and puts notifications out front for added exposure.
The tech giant announced the next step in the evolution of the Your Phone app. Phone Link will now be taking the mantle. It will still be a crucial tool to access photos, texts, and other important features on your computer.
This tool was first introduced three years ago and the overhaul comes at a time when the Phone Link app needed to reflect Windows 11. The design changes mean that the app features Windows 11’s colour pallet. The app now features the rounded corners of Windows 11, updated iconography, and overall aesthetic.
Microsoft has also added the ability to filter notifications on your Windows PC and receive phone calls when your device is charging elsewhere or out of reach. Android mobile apps are accessible on PC now too.
The most significant addition to the Phone Link app is how notifications are upfront for the user’s benefit. Thanks to this change, it should be much easier to see alerts and notifications pop up throughout the day. Tabbed notifications are also in the update. This ensures users have access to manage calls, apps, messages and photos.
In addition, the next Windows 11 update brings the ability to set up Phone Link during the initial set-up of a PC. This feature utilizes a QR code that users can scan with their device and streamline that process.
Windows 11 has been progressively bridging the gap between PC and Android. The improvements made and subsequent changes to the Phone Link app only strengthen that notion. The improvements Microsoft is bringing to the table should only enhance multitasking and update the ways users can share media between devices.
The release of the Phone Link app comes hand-in-hand with the Link to Windows app on Android. This was formerly known as the Your Phone Companion and is an important facet between a PC and a smartphone.
The OnePlus 10 Pro has finally come to North America, but I’m not sure it will push the company’s smartphone line forward in a meaningful way.
Last year’s OnePlus 9 series cemented the upstart brand as a company capable of making top-tier hardware that can compete with the likes of Samsung. Then, after a year of getting closer to, and then further away from Oppo, software support has become a major pain point for OnePlus devices.
Holding the OnePlus 10 Pro is DejaVu. It feels and looks the same as its predecessor from the front, plus it’s impressing me with its camera and battery life. However, after last year, it’s going to take a lot more than a slightly upgraded OnePlus 9 Pro to get the company back on track.
What OnePlus fans really need is a year of trust-building in the form of stable updates.
First impressions can be deceiving
From the front with a case on, it feels and looks just like my 9 Pro.
When I unwrapped the OnePlus 10 Pro and slapped on the classic OnePlus Sandstone bumper case, it felt great in my hand. Then I started to transfer over all my OnePlus 9 data and the device became pretty warm. It wasn’t hot, but warmer than I would have liked. Since then, it’s been fine, but I have yet to spend more than a few minutes gaming on it yet.
It’s worth noting that the OnePlus 10 Pro uses Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip. So far, Samsung’s S22 series are the only other flagships we’ve tested this year with the 8 Gen 1. MobileSyrup’s Dean Daley also noted heat issues with the S22 Ultra when running benchmarks, while staff reporter Jon Lamont didn’t experience abnormal temperatures with the S22 and S22+.
Beyond that, the phone feels solid (even if JerryRigEverything snapped it in half). I’d recommend most users the ‘Emeral Forest’ model since it offers such a nice matte texture on the back. Overall, the smartphone is a great size and feels slightly heavier than the OnePlus 9 Pro since the new camera bump is larger.
We’re now two years into the three-year-long Hasselblad x OnePlus partnership.
Even though this isn’t a OnePlus ‘T’ model, it feels like a subtle improvement over the 9 Pro instead of a generational leap like we’ve seen in the past from the company. This isn’t necessarily entirely bad since the 9 Pro’s hardware is stellar, but it also makes less of a case to upgrade to the OnePlus 10 Pro if you already own the 9 Pro.
Camera performance
The three lenses are equivalent to 14mm, 23mm and 77mm on a full-frame camera.
OnePlus has stuck four lenses on the phone — three on the back and a single 32-megapixel selfie camera on the front. The primary camera features a 48-megapixel sensor, the Ultrawide captures 50-megapixels, and the 3.3x zoom lens is only eight megapixels. Quality-wise, the sensors seem very similar to the OnePlus 9 series.
This time the most attention has been paid to software as OnePlus furthers its partnership with Hasselblad. Last year, the company marketed the Hasselblad colour science and its flattened ultrawide shooter that replicated a 14mm full-frame lens. These systems are still in place in the OnePlus 10 Pro, but the company has added a fun dedicated 150-degree wide-angle mode, a new 10-bit colour capture option, and rebranded filters called ‘Master Styles.’
Not to take away anything from the three Hasselblad photographers since these new filters are pretty sweet, but when OnePlus and Hasselblad got together, the companies announced a lot of exciting camera features, and what’s present in the OnePlus 10 Pro is a little lacklustre.
The camera app still features Hasselblad’s Orange accents, but the ‘Expert mode’ has been renamed to ‘Pro mode’ this year.
This year’s most exciting new feature is 10-bit colour in the camera’s ‘Photo’ and ‘Night’ modes. It helps gather 64 times more colour data from all three rear cameras compared to 8-bit photos. This makes getting deep colours a little easier since you no longer need to shoot RAW (12-bit) in the ‘Pro mode’ to achieve it.
While taking 10-bit snaps is easier than ever (after you enable it from deep in the camera settings), sharing them is enough of a hassle that it almost makes me want to turn the new colour feature off entirely. The 10-bit mode saves files using HEIF/HEIC image compression codec, which is fine, but you’ll likely run into issues once you try and share those files. For instance, most people I sent my pictures to from the OnePlus 10 would just get a link to a file they’d need to download themselves.
Slack and Windows users
Lightroom
Google Photos
It works, but it’s not nearly as seamless as sharing regular JPGs. On Windows, you even need to download two extensions, one free and one that costs $1.30 in Canada. OnePlus tried to make sharing a little more seamless by adding a toggle to the OnePlus Photos app that will auto convert the HEIC files when you share them from the company’s photo locker. However, it decimated my Google Photos library, which is what I primarily use to manage my digital pictures. This is weird too, since my iPhone 13 Pro also uses HEIC to save photos, and Google reads those. Apple is also better at auto-sharing pictures as JPEGs, something I never even knew was happening until OnePlus tried to do it, and fumbled.
This isn’t necessarily OnePlus’ fault either. The nature of Android kind of necessitates having two photos apps on most phones, except for Pixels. Ideally, OnePlus will be able to find a way around this soon, though. HEIC files on my iPhone store in Google Photos just fine, so I assume there must be a way, but OnePlus has yet to find it.
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If you want to use RAW (this does backup into Google), the manual shooting controls on the 10 Pro are decent and you can shoot 12-bit colour (you could do 12-bit RAW on the OnePlus 9 Pro too). There’s even a new ‘RAW Plus’ option that works like Apple’s ProRAW format. That means when you snap a picture, the phone still applies some computational tricks to make the shot look as good as possible while retaining all of the photo information and depth from the RAW file. In my limited testing so far, this has been hit and miss. The pictures look a little better than standard pre-edited RAW images, but not as clean as a fully computational image.
This is all extremely exciting for mobile photographers, but in practice, OnePlus’ current camera app is weirdly confusing and lacks some functions that it used to have in OxygenOS 11. For instance, there is no way to set the Pro mode as your default camera experience anymore, and for some reason, the fun XPan and Movie modes are the only camera functions out of 14 that can’t be added to the quick toggle carousel. This is likely a minimal annoyance to most, but to me, it represents OnePlus’ struggle to really hone its software down to the level of a real flagship. All the pieces are here, but they’re not always held together logically.
After all of this, I want you guys to know that these complaints come from the heart. I’ve loved OnePlus’ slightly off-centre colour balancing (for better and worse) since the 7T and at the end of the day, I’m happy with the pictures that the 10 Pro grabs. But compared to the 9 Pro, which has a 12-bit RAW mode, and a very similar lens setup, there doesn’t seem to be a lot to upgrade. Unless you’re obsessed with Fisheye lenses, of course. But in all seriousness, the only people who likely care about 10-bit colour are photographers, who would likely rather shoot 12-bit RAW instead.
Other thoughts
There’s no denying that the Emerald forest version looks great…even with that stovetop camera bump.
Overall the OnePlus 10 Pro is a decent phone but with the company’s current track record for updates, it might be worth waiting to see what happens as it rolls back its ColorOS skin and moves back towards a more stock-inspired Android experience. I have no idea what this even means in 2022, either. Will it look like a Pixel launcher, such as what Nothing attempted, or will it revert to how OxygenOS 11 looked? Or are we going all the way back to OxygenOS 10?
It’s not that I hate ColorOS 12. It looks fine and works ideally 95 percent of the time, but sometimes it’s a little annoying. Especially when I try to do something that I remember from a previous build of OxygenOS only to find it replaced with some other weird feature. For instance, every second time I plug this phone into my car, it starts charging. I then have to manually pull down the notification shade, tap on the system status notification, and then select Transfer files/Android Auto. Almost every other phone I’ve used is able to jump into Android Auto automatically after the initial setup.
A short gif of the OnePlus Shelf action.
The OnePlus 10 Pro comes pre-loaded with OnePlus Shelf enabled too. This means that swiping down from the top right corner of the screen will bring down an area where OnePlus hides some widgets, a nice system search tool and some weather information. Years ago, this used to sit to the left of your home screen, where the Google discover page now sits. In North America, OnePlus had gotten rid of the Shelf for a few years, but now it’s back in a new place, and that’s the issue.
Since I’m right-handed, when I use my thumb to reach up and swipe down for my notifications, it naturally reaches for the top right corner, but instead of getting notifications I now get the Shelf… which isn’t terrible, but after the 10th time, I just had to disable it. This is annoying since this is where OnePlus’ pretty decent system search, ‘Scout,’ lives, so now I can’t use that. Instead, the company lets non-shelf users search through their installed apps with another search bar in the App drawer.
There’s a lot of potential packed into this phone. Using Gorilla Glass Victus, a variable refresh rate screen, Dolby Atmos and excellent display calibration all make it very impressive, but this year isn’t about OnePlus’ hardware. The real story is if the software problems can be solved and whether the company will win back some user trust.
It’s worth noting that this is actually $200 cheaper than the OnePlus 9 Pro when it was launched last year on March 23rd.
Once you’ve pre-ordered, the OnePlus 10 Pro should arrive on April 14th. It’s also worth noting that OnePlus isn’t partnered with any Canadian carriers so the only place to get one is from the company’s website.
If you want to learn more about the phone and see some sample images, you can read my hands-on with the device here. I’d also recommend reading recent coverage from a few other publications since the operating system has changed significantly since the OnePlus 10 Pro launched in China. With this in mind, early impressions from a month or two ago could shift dramatically.
To protect the new smartphone, OnePlus sells a classic Sandstone bumper case that retails for $34 and a more stylized case with Hasselblad camera iconography that costs $55. You can buy the cases from OnePlus.
Beyond the new OnePlus 10 Pro , the company is also selling a new colourway of the OnePlus Buds Pro that it’s calling ‘Radiant Silver’ that replicates stainless steel or chrome. These cost $200 CAD and if you’re interested in buying them make sure to check out our full review.
Google may be working on an Android feature that would let phones scan for and warn users about nearby, unfamiliar Bluetooth tracker tags.
9to5Google uncovered lines of code in Google’s Play Services app hinting at the capability. Before we dig too much deeper, it’s worth noting that information uncovered via app teardowns like this isn’t always the most reliable, in part because strings of code can be misinterpreted. Moreover, in-development features like this may change, or Google might scrap them entirely.
With that in mind, let’s dig in. 9to5 performed a teardown on Play Services version 22.12.13 and found references for “Unfamiliar device alerts” and an “Unfamiliar Tag Detected Notification.” Both seem connected to Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) tracking tags.
Further, 9to5 found lines referencing three types of tags, including “ATag,” “Finder tag” and “Tile tag.” It’s not totally clear what ‘Finder’ refers to, but ‘Tile’ is likely Tile trackers, while ‘ATag’ could be Apple AirTags.
Finally, another line of code suggests that if an Android phone finds a tag, users might be able to ring it.
After some digging, 9to5 was able to enable the ‘Unfamiliar device alerts’ menu, which appears in Settings > Safety & emergency.
Android’s ‘Safety & emergency’ menu with ‘Unfamiliar device alerts’ | Image credit: 9to5Google
Despite the early development of the feature, I think it may hold some promise. Apple’s AirTags helped popularize Bluetooth trackers, but also opened avenues for people to abuse trackers for stalking and tracking people. Trackers have become a rampant problem, with reports of people attaching them to cars so they can find and steal them later.
The problem, however, is that both solutions require Android users to download apps and manually scan for trackers. It seems like Google’s solution may solve the first problem by eliminating the need to use a third-party app. However, it’s not clear if Android will passively scan for trackers, or if users will need to manually scan.
Although this feature would go a long way in helping Android users deal with unwanted trackers, it’d be nice tech giants supported an interoperable standard. At the very least, Android and iOS devices should be able to warn users of nearby, unfamiliar trackers. But, an ideal would be if everything ran on the same network, giving users much better coverage and choice in tracker use.
