Android News

Posted by Adarsh Fernando, Product Manager During these uncertain times, we're humbled by the many developers around the world who are finding ways to keep doing what they do best—create amazing apps for Android. Whether you're working from your kitchen table on a laptop or from a home office, you need tools that keep up with you. Android Studio 4.0 is the result of our drive to bring you new and improved tools for coding smarter, building faster, and designing the apps your users depend on, and it's now available on the stable channel . Some highlights of Android Studio 4.0 include a new Motion Editor to help bring your apps to life, a Build Analyzer to investigate causes for slower build times, and Java 8 language APIs you can use regardless of your app's minimum API level. Based on your feedback, we've also overhauled the CPU Profiler user interface to provide a more intuitive workflow and easier side-by-side analysis of thread activity. And the improved La

For the past several years, Pop-Up Magazine has resurrected extinct flowers, analyzed dreams, ventured into the Darien Gap, rowed across the Atlantic Ocean and shared ancient songs from Istanbul's Hagia Sofia—all from the comfort of theaters throughout the United States. Three times a year, the "live magazine" hits the road, featuring storytelling performed onstage by journalists, filmmakers, comedians, photographers and musicians, selling out every venue along the way. At every show, the hosts tell the audience the same thing: "After tonight, the show will disappear. You won't find anything online. We made it just for you." But in recent months, the team behind the experience has had to rethink what it means to go on tour—and how they might bring their offline show online. Last night, in collaboration with Google, Pop-Up Magazine debuted its first digital show on its YouTube channel, free of charge and available around the world. We caught up with

For many of us, it's easy to take addresses for granted. We order products online, and they show up at our doorstep. In an emergency, we give our address to an ambulance or fire truck, and they quickly get to us. But what happens when you don't have an address and you need to direct someone to your current location?  More than 2 billion people on the planet—about 25 percent of us or more —either don't have an address or have an address that isn't easy to locate. To tackle this challenge, we launched Plus Codes in 2015. Plus Codes are simple, easy to use digital addresses derived from latitude and longitude coordinates. They can be used to uniquely identify any location, from a rural home out on a prairie to a small shop stall on a nameless street. Today we've made it easier for anyone with an Android device to share their location using Plus Codes in Google Maps. People who use Google Maps might be familiar with the blue dot that represents their curr

In January, our CEO Sundar Pichai visited Brussels to talk about artificial intelligence and how Google could help people and businesses succeed in the digital age through partnership. Much has changed since then due to COVID-19, but one thing hasn't—our commitment to the potential of partnership with Europe on AI, especially to tackle the pandemic and help people and the economy recover.  As part of that effort, we earlier today filed our response to the European Commission's Consultation on Artificial Intelligence , giving our feedback on the Commission's initial proposal for how to regulate and accelerate the adoption of AI.  Excellence, skills, trust Our filing applauds the Commission's focus on building out the European "ecosystem of excellence." European universities already boast renowned leaders in dozens of areas of AI research—Google partners with some of them via our machine learning research hubs in Zurich, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris

For many of us, it's easy to take addresses for granted. We order products online, and they show up at our doorstep. In an emergency, we give our address to an ambulance or fire truck, and they quickly get to us. But what happens when you don't have an address and you need to direct someone to your current location?  More than 2 billion people on the planet—about 25 percent of us or more —either don't have an address or have an address that isn't easy to locate. To tackle this challenge, we launched Plus Codes in 2015. Plus Codes are simple, easy to use digital addresses derived from latitude and longitude coordinates. They can be used to uniquely identify any location, from a rural home out on a prairie to a small shop stall on a nameless street. Today we've made it easier for anyone with an Android device to share their location using Plus Codes in Google Maps. People who use Google Maps might be familiar with the blue dot that represents their curr

Samsung Brazil has prepared a few special offers for Dia dos Namorados (Valentine's Day). The company is now offering free wearables along with new Galaxy smartphone and tablet purchases until June 14. The Galaxy Z Flip is the perfect phone for the ladies , or at least as perfect as it can be in the current smartphone landscape. Buying Samsung's foldable device in Brazil before June 14 will ensure you get a free pair of Galaxy Buds+  along with the handset. The original Galaxy Buds are also included in a separate ongoing Valentine's Day offer. The earbuds are paired for free with new Galaxy S20 Ultra purchases. You won't be getting the same battery life from the Galaxy Buds as you would with the Galaxy Buds+, but many Buds+ software features have already been made available on the original model with a recent firmware update . The AKG Y500 and the Galaxy Watch Active also count as freebies Samsung also offers a pair of AKG Y500 wireless Bluetooth headphones

The last few months have been an adventure for a lot of families like mine that are juggling work, parenting, and school at home. Our family Chromebook has been a huge help. Between video calls with teachers and classmates, virtual "field trips" to the zoo, moviemaking, and book publishing (and that's just the last week!), my kids are spending more time online. With that comes some challenges, and I know I'm not alone. A lot of parents are looking for better tools to help them manage and guide their kids' time spent online. We hope our new Chrome OS update can help. This update brings two new improvements to Family Link on Chromebook: access to Chrome Web store extensions for kids and per-app time limits for Google Play apps. Family Link is an app that helps parents set digital ground rules and manage screen time across kids' Android phones, tablets, and Chromebooks. Parents can use the Family Link app from their phone to set restrictions on which w

I'm a big advocate of stepping away from my laptop and phone after work (I've even been that person who brags about their low screen time stats). But unsurprisingly, those numbers aren't quite so low these days. Between working remotely, video calling my friends and family, scanning social media and the news, live-streaming fitness classes and definitely spending more time than usual binge-watching my favorite shows, my screen time is way, way (way) up. Sometimes, I'm relieved that I'm still able to do so much with my phone or laptop. Other times, I can't help but feel overwhelmed and exhausted .  The reality is that technology is critical. But in trying to find a new sense of balance (or any balance at all), there are a few things we can do to alleviate some of these growing pains. And while I'm not a digital wellbeing expert, I'm lucky to work with a few. I asked some of Google's experts if they had any advice for me and others who are look

The Galaxy Home Mini just got a new firmware update to version  V310XXU1ATE3 . It weighs 11MB and it seemingly brings stability improvements along with some changes to Bixby integration. The firmware update is rolling out now in South Korea , and that's entirely expected given that the Galaxy Home Mini hasn't been released anywhere else. This is the fifth firmware update the Galaxy Home Mini ever received since February 2020 when it was launched in limited quantities as an incentive for Galaxy S20 pre-orders in South Korea . The product hasn't been sold separately since. It does have a dedicated product page on Samsung's Korean portal complete with features lists, specifications, and customer reviews, but it can't be purchased. The Galaxy Home Mini was designed as the centerpiece of the Samsung Smart Home ecosystem; a device that can be used to control various other smart devices, from air purifiers to smart TVs. In essence, it's a smart speaker that'

The dual-AMOLED panels of the seminal Galaxy Fold won Samsung a Display Industry Award (DIA) from the Society for Information Display (SID), one of the top honors in the field of contemporary display technologies. By pairing a foldable 7.3-inch screen with a 4.6-inch one sitting on the outside of the pioneering Android smartphone, Samsung managed to deliver a device that can not only operate three applications simultaneously, but do so in an unprecedentedly convenient manner, the DIA committee found. Coupled with a high-resolution image quality on par with the Quad Extended Graphics Array (QXGA+) standard, an impressive 600 cd/m2 peak luminance, and a pure color gamut, the Galaxy Fold is nothing short of a remarkable achievement showcasing the full might of Samsung's display tech prowess, DIA's panel of judges concluded. Long story short, Samsung's going home with one of the three "Display of the Year" honors given out at the newest edition of the prestigious a

US-based cryptocurrency exchange Gemini has partnered with Samsung to integrate its services with Samsung Blockchain Wallet in the USA and Canada . The collaboration allows Samsung Blockchain Wallet users to transfer crypto between the Wallet and the Gemini platform. They can use the Gemini mobile app to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrency like bitcoin, ether, litecoin, Zcash, and more. Gemini is now officially the first US cryptocurrency exchange to offer integration with Samsung Blockchain Wallet in North America. Select Galaxy smartphone owners can connect the Wallet to Gemini, trade crypto, check their Gemini account balances, and transfer crypto to cold storage. According to Tyler Winklevoss, CEO of Gemini,  Crypto is not just a technology, it is a movement. We are proud to be working with Samsung to bring crypto's promise of greater choice, independence, and opportunity to more individuals around the world . Select Galaxy smartphone users in North America can download t

COVID-19 has upended the news industry, hitting local news particularly hard with job losses, furloughs, cutbacks and even closure. To provide some help, last month the Google News Initiative launched the Journalism Emergency Relief Fund . Today we're announcing that more than 5,300 small and medium local newsrooms around the world will receive funding ranging from $5,000 - $30,000. Applications covering a number of publications under one organization will be capped at $85,000. As we await a final funding tally, we expect to spend tens of millions of dollars through the Journalism Emergency Relief Fund.  In just two weeks we received more than 12,000 applications from 140 eligible countries, with 90 percent of those applications from newsrooms of less than 26 journalists. We reviewed each application against a set of criteria : publications operating locally, serving a specific geographic community and using the money to continue doing so. More than 300 Googlers joined forc

COVID-19 has upended the news industry, hitting local news particularly hard with job losses, furloughs, cutbacks and even closure. To provide some help, last month the Google News Initiative launched the Journalism Emergency Relief Fund . Today we're announcing that more than 5,300 small and medium local newsrooms around the world will receive funding ranging from $5,000 - $30,000. Applications covering a number of publications under one organization will be capped at $85,000. As we await a final funding tally, we expect to spend tens of millions of dollars through the Journalism Emergency Relief Fund.  In just two weeks we received more than 12,000 applications from 140 eligible countries, with 90 percent of those applications from newsrooms of less than 26 journalists. We reviewed each application against a set of criteria : publications operating locally, serving a specific geographic community and using the money to continue doing so. More than 300 Googlers joined forc

What's new on Android and Google Play View as webpage May 2020 #android11: The Beta Launch Show Join us June 3 at 11 am EDT for exciting Android and Google Play updates and the latest development news, with live Q&As. Join the conversation using #AskAndroid. LEARN MORE What's new on Google Play • App signing by Google Play FAQs : learn how to keep your signing keys safe and unlock the benefits of Android App Bundle. • Play Dynamic Asset Delivery : optimize delivery of all your game assets with the new App Bundle for games. • Instant play game featuring program : to reach 100s of millions of gamers, submit your game for publication on the Play G