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Mobile Syrup

Google might fix Android’s auto brightness so you don’t get blinded at night

Have you ever turned on your Android phone in a dark room only to be blinded like you just got flashbanged in a Call of Duty game? Well, Google might finally fix the problem.

Android expert Mishaal Rahman shared in a thread of information gleaned from the Android 13 QPR2 source code a link to the Google Git detailing work on a change to Android’s auto brightness (via Android Police). Git, for those unfamiliar, is a system used for tracking changes to code. These changes would impact how Android phones adjust brightness when users turn on the screen.

Currently, Android doesn’t take into account the ambient brightness until after you turn on the screen, which is what causes that blinding brightness. When the screen turns on, it’s set to whatever brightness level it was when you turned off the screen and, chances are, it was a lot brighter when you turned off the screen.

Per Rahman’s findings, Android could start using the brightness sensor to “determine the screen’s initial brightness,” which should mean that phone screens will come on at a reasonable brightness for your current environment.

Unfortunately, it’s not entirely clear when this will actually roll out to users. It could arrive in a Pixel Feature Drop or end up rolling out with Android 14 later this year.

Whenever it arrives, it’ll be yet another small but important improvement to Android’s auto brightness system, which has long had issues with consistency and reliability.

Source: Google Git Via: Mishaal Rahman, Android Police

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Mobile Syrup

Google pushes out first Feature Drop of 2023

Google has released its first Pixel Feature Drop of 2023 rolling out to devices now and over the next few weeks.

Faster ‘Night Sight,’ a previously Pixel 7 and 7 Pro exclusive feature, is making its way to the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. Google says it can do this thanks to the power of its Tensor chip.

Magic Eraser is coming to more Pixel phones as well. The feature allows users to remove distractions like photo bombers, and lets you change the colour of an object to make it blend in with the image better. Oddly, Google doesn’t state what Pixel devices are getting the feature.

The Pixel now has Health Connect built-in, which allows users to store, connect and share data from compatible health and fitness apps. Health Connect lets users store data on-device and provides a central set of controls to manage health and fitness data.

Further, users can see timers across all their Pixel devices without unlocking the handset. This means if you set a timer on your Nest Hub, ‘At a Glance’ will also show the countdown on your Pixel device.

The Pixel Watch now has fall detection, which can detect if you’ve taken a hard fall and then connect users to emergency services. Once connected to emergency services, the watch will play an automated message to request help wherever you are. It’s worth noting that the Apple Watch also offers similar features.

In the coming weeks, the Pixel Watch will offer new sound and display settings on Wear OS 3+, making it easier to customize audio and visual experiences on the Pixel Watch.

Google is also bringing existing features to more regions, languages and devices.

For instance, Fast Pair is now available on select Chromebooks, Hold for Me is now available in Japan, you can now use two eSIMs on the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro.

Source: Google Blog 

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Mobile Syrup

Street Fighter: Duel launches on Android and iOS

Crunchyroll Games has launched Street Fighter: Duel, a new mobile RPG, in Canada, the U.S. and a handful of other countries.

The first mobile RPG based on Capcom’s beloved fighting game franchise, Street Fighter: Duel is a party-based title that has characters like Ryu, Chun-Li, Ken, Guile and Akuma fighting automatically as you tap buttons for combos.

Altogether, more than 40 characters are included, and you can unlock variants for each of them, like ‘Mad Ryu’ and ‘Beast Zangief’ with their own unique abilities. A variety of limited-time challenges will also be offered at launch.

The game is free to download (with microtransactions for in-games currencies, of course) on Android and iOS.

Image credit: Crunchyroll

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Mobile Syrup

iPhone, Android feature opens security hole that could let someone steal your account

For all the talk of security, iPhones and Android smartphones are both vulnerable to a surprisingly low-tech hack that could leave you locked out of your Apple or Google account, with no access to find your device tools or your data.

The low-tech hack in question? Thieves just need your smartphone passcode and your smartphone. Both iOS and Android have built-in features that let users change the password for their Apple ID or Google account with just the PIN or passcode used to unlock their phone.

The Wall Street Journal detailed the low-tech hack in a recent report, noting that the feature is intended to make it easier for people to change their account passwords. It works because your smartphone is considered a trusted device.

Moreover, the WSJ shared several accounts of this happening to people, revealing just how easy it can be. Someone snooping over your shoulder could see you tap in your PIN. Then if they steal your smartphone, they could use the PIN to change your Apple ID or Google account password. Once changed, the thief would have access to a trove of personal data and the account owners would effectively be locked out. Even worse, the thief could take advantage of the option to force sign out all devices tied to that account, locking victims out of their accounts on other devices they have.

Coupled with the apps many people have on their phones, thieves could potentially do a lot of damage. The WSJ cited several cases of victims having their bank accounts drained by thieves who took their phones, not to mention the thieves would have access to Apple Pay or Google Pay to make purchases. Some victims reported that Apple Cards were opened in their name and used by thieves.

Finally, with access to the Apple or Google account, the thieves can disable security tools for locating missing devices, ultimately enabling them to wipe and resell the stolen phones.

How to protect yourself

Obviously, all of the above is quite concerning for smartphone owners. Thankfully, there are a few ways people can protect themselves. Most of the advice boils down to avoiding using your passcode in public and relying on biometrics like Face ID or fingerprint unlock instead. Though it’s worth noting that there are issues with these unlock methods as well. You can also avoid sharing your passcode and be careful about when you enter it into your phone.

Beyond that, you can strengthen your passcode by making it longer or by switching it to a password instead. Either of these could make it harder for someone to steal by watching you unlock your phone.

Moreover, it’s worth being careful about how you use apps on your phone. For example, don’t enable PIN unlocks for things like your bank app or your password vault. It’s less convenient, but it could hamper a thief’s ability to gain access to sensitive data if they have your passcode.

Source: The Wall Street Journal Via: 9to5Google

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Mobile Syrup

Fix for YouTube video causing Pixel crash to roll out in March

We recently reported about a bug that causes the Pixel 6 and 7 series to crash and reboot.

The bug in question involves playing a specific YouTube video, after which the Pixel device automatically crashes and soft-reboots, sometimes resulting in users losing cellular connectivity for a few minutes. The issue first surfaced in a Reddit post made by ‘OGPixel5‘ on Sunday, February 26th.

Now, as first shared by 9to5Google, Google has confirmed that it knows about the problem and is working on a fix. The issue will reportedly be addressed in the March Pixel update.

Google didn’t share details about what’s causing the problem. Back in 2020, an image surfaced on Reddit that caused Android smartphones to crash when it was set as the phone wallpaper. The reasoning behind the crash was that the device was reading the colour space used in the photo incorrectly. The result is that a specific value at a certain point exceeds its defined maximum, which leads to an ‘out-of-bounds exception’ and crashes the System UI. It is unclear if the YouTube video crash is because of the same issue.

Further, according to 9to5Google, the problem seems to be less prominent on Pixel devices running the Android QPR Beta and Android 14 Developer Preview 1. If you’re not on one of those two builds, it would be prudent to refrain from playing the video. A video of the glitch in action can be found below:

Source: 9to5Google

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Mobile Syrup

Nine new features are heading to Android and Wear OS

Google is releasing new features for Android users ahead of the March Pixel Feature Drop.

Starting soon, the Google Keep single note widget will help you manage check off to-do lists from your Home screen. This widget shows reminders, background colours and images added to notes from the Keep app and sync with your smartphone.

Using the Keep widget on an Android Home screen to check off a shopping list.

Google Keep is also introducing two new shortcuts for Wear OS that can help you create notes and to-do lists with a simple tap on your watch face. You can use a stylus or simply touch the screen to annotate PDFs in the Google Drive app for Android.

Google Keep now announces noise cancellation during calls on more Android mobile devices. Another feature coming is Fast Pair, which can connect new Bluetooth headphones to your Chromeback with just one tap.

Using Fast Pair to quickly connect new wireless earbuds.

There are new emoji combinations in the Emoji Kitchen, which you can mash up in Gboard. Additionally, new tap to pay animations on Google Wallet are coming next week.

You can now increase the size of content on Chrome, including text, images, video and interactive controls, by up to 300 percent. You can do this within Chrome Beta via Settings Accesibility before it rolls out in March.

Using Page zoom on Chrome to double the size of text on a web page on Android.

Wear OS 3+ will showcase two new sound and display modes to help with watch accessbility. Mono-audio can help with disorientation that can be caused by split-audio, and colour correction/grayscape mode can help with the watch’s display. For all of the changes coming to Wear OS, follow this link.

Image Credit: Google

Source: Google

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Mobile Syrup

Google will bring eSIM transfer feature to Android this year

Android will get a tool for transferring eSIM profiles later this year, Google revealed at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023.

Google will roll out eSIM transfer capabilities to Android in 2023, which should make the process much simpler than it currently is. For those who haven’t had to mess with eSIM yet, users currently need to unregister an eSIM profile from their old device before reactivating it on the new device. Sometimes, this process requires contacting your carrier (which, as most Canadians know, is a hellish exercise).

Although it’s not clear when these capabilities will arrive, my money would be on Android 14 delivering eSIM transfers. In part, this is due to preview builds of Android 14 featuring in-development pieces of the eSIM transfer tool.

While an exciting development for eSIM, it, unfortunately, won’t totally eliminate carriers from the process. Google also announced that Deutsche Telekom will be one of the first to adopt eSIM transfer on Android handsets. While that means little for Canadians, it does indicate Canadians will need to wait for Canadian carriers to support Android’s eSIM transfer feature.

eSIM has been around for some time, though support from carriers has so far been lacklustre. MobileSyrup’s creative director Brad Bennett recently hopped on the eSIM train after switching to Rogers — his experience was, well, not the best. Read all about it here.

Source: Android Police

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Mobile Syrup

Google One unlocks Pixel’s Magic Eraser for Android and iPhone users

Google is expanding its Photos and Pixel features like Magic Eraser to more people through its Google One membership program.

Google says that starting today, One subscribers on both iOS and Android will be able to access Magic Eraser in Google Photos. The previously Pixel-exclusive feature will have much wider availability going forward, assuming you’re willing to pony up for Google One (though you don’t need a One membership to use it on a Pixel).

Magic Eraser, for those unfamiliar with the feature, debuted on the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. It allows users to erase people and objects from pictures captured with their phone. For example, if your selfie has someone in the background, or if there’s a chair messing up your favourite shot, Magic Eraser makes it easy to rid photos of those blemishes. Despite being exclusive to newer Pixel phones, there were workarounds to get Magic Eraser on older Pixels too.

Moreover, Google announced that a new HDR video effect and new collage styles will be available to One subscribers, and members will get free shipping on print orders.

The new HDR effect is just an extension of the existing effect for images, but now you can apply it to videos. Google says the HDR effect can enhance the brightness and contrast of videos.

Google Photos will get new collage editor designs too. Google says all Photos users can now apply Styles to a single photo in the collage editor, and it’s adding a “range of new Styles” for Google One members and Pixel users.

Finally, the free shipping benefit will be available to Google One members in Canada as well as the U.S., E.U. and the U.K. As before, people can use Photos to create custom photo books, as well as canvas and photo prints — now shipping is free for One members.

In Canada, Google One costs $2.79/mo or $27.99/year for 100GB, $3.99/mo or $39.99/year for 200GB, $13.99/mo or $139.99/year for 2TB, and $35.99/mo or $359.99/year for 5TB. Along with storage for Photos and other Google services, One offers other benefits like VPN access, store credit back in purchases on the Google Store and more. You can learn more here.

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Mobile Syrup

Microsoft brings Bing Chat preview to iOS, Android and Skype

Just a couple weeks after Microsoft unveiled its revamped Bing with a new ‘Chat’ feature powered by an upgraded ChatGPT, the company is continuing its breakneck rollout by launching Bing Chat on mobile.

In a new blog post, Microsoft said that Bing Chat is “available on iOS and Android today.” The blog post makes mention of the Bing mobile app and the Edge mobile browser, but in my brief testing, I wasn’t able to easily access it through the Bing app on my Pixel 7. However, Bing Chat was available through Edge when tested on both the Pixel 7 and an iPhone XS as long as I was signed into my corresponding Microsoft account.

That said, accessing Bing Chat wasn’t particularly straightforward. On both devices, I had to search a query through Bing first, and then I could tap the ‘Chat’ option to switch over to Bing Chat.

Along with availability on iOS and Android devices, Bing Chat now supports voice input. In fact, it appears that’s the main way Microsoft wants people to interact with Bing Chat on mobile — when you access the Chat interface, there’s a big, blue microphone button you tap to speak a query. You can still type queries by tapping the grey keyboard icon on the left side of the interface.

Bing Chat in Microsoft Edge for Android

Bing Chat in Microsoft Edge for Android.

As with other devices, accessing Bing Chat on mobile requires access to the Bing preview. If you haven’t signed up for it, check out our how-to here. If you already have access to the Bing preview, Chat should be available as long as you’re signed in with the same Microsoft account on your mobile devices.

Beyond the Bing app and Edge, Microsoft expanded Chat to Skype. Skype users can add Bing to conversations the same way they would add any other contact and then ask it questions by typing “@Bing” into a message. Moreover, Microsoft says users can pick how they want Bing to respond. For example, Bing can reply with bullet points, text, or a simplified answer.

Microsoft appears to be using Bing in Skype to test out how it’ll work in a messaging environment before a wider expansion. In the blog post, the company specifically outlined plans to bring Bing to “other communications apps, like Teams, in the future.”

Bing in Skype

Bing in Skype | Image credit: Microsoft

Bing in Skype is available worldwide in preview starting February 22nd. For those already part of the Bing preview experience, Microsoft says the Bing in Skype capabilities will show up later today — if you’re not part of the preview experience, you’ll have to sign up and join the waitlist (again, check out our how-to here). Microsoft did warn that it’s aware of “connectivity issues in low-bandwidth situations” when using Bing, and the company says it’s working on a fix.

These latest expansions to Bing Chat come after Microsoft capped the length and number of conversations people can have in response to extended conversations causing Bing to go haywire.

Source: Microsoft

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Mobile Syrup

Exient’s Ultimate Sackboy now available on iOS and Android

Following last month’s reveal, PlayStation’s Ultimate Sackboy is now available on iOS and Android. Developed and published in partnership with U.K.-based studio Exient, Ultimate Sackboy is an endless runner game.

Ultimate Sackboy stars PlayStation’s mascot, originating from the LittleBigPlanet franchise. Players take on the role of Sackboy as he runs through a variety of levels, avoiding obstacles. Players must swipe their screen to move tracks, jump across hazards, and swing to safety. As players progress through the game, new Tiers unlock, allowing Sackboy to explore new tracks. The game also incorporates a Leaderboard system that players can strive to reach the top of.

As with other endless runner titles, players can collect Bubbles within each level to unlock cosmetic items such as costumes. Much like LittleBigPlanet, Ultimate Sackboy offers hundred of clothing options to unlock, upgrade, and collect.

Ultimate Sackboy is launching with its own battle pass feature. Exient refers to it as Marathon. Throughout the game’s first season, players can unlock rewards by completing daily missions. The Season 1 Pass includes the Astronaut costume, which many players many recognize as being available in previous LittleBigPlanet games. Each season runs for 28 days, with Season 2 kicking off on March 22nd.

This isn’t Sackboy’s first stint on mobile devices. Previously, studio Firesprite took a crack at an endless runner with the character. This previous installment was 2014’s Run Sackboy! Run!

Ultimate Sackboy has been available in closed beta across several regions, including Canada. Following its beta period, Exient is releasing its new title worldwide. Players can download the game from the App Store or the Play Store.

Image credit: Exient

Source: Exient