Humax Vision is a Google Home that projects Android TV onto a wall

Humax Digital just released yet another smart home device, the Humax Vision. On the inside, it acts just like the Google Home, as both of them are using Google Assistant. But, Humax Vision can also project the screen with the Android TV interface. That way, you can have a device that offers the functionality of both the smart speaker and smart TV. Android TV offers applications like YouTube, Spotify, Plex, and many more. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support Netflix yet.

Price in unknown right now and seems it will only be available in the US fairly soon. Now if (when) this can do Netflix as well, would I still need a TV? My TV is only used for streaming YouTube and Netflix.

See https://www.xda-developers.com/humax-vision-google-home-android-tv/

#HumaxVision

Google Nexus 6 and Nexus 5X get AOSP Android Pie ports

Both of these devices are pretty old and have had their official support cut-off. The Nexus 6 finished at Android Nougat, while the Nexus 5X finished off at Android Oreo. Android Pie has only been out for two weeks now, yet so many of the community’s most popular devices have already gotten working ports.

First up is Nexus PieX by XDA Senior Member argraur for the Nexus 5X. The only things that are actually fully broken are SafetyNet and VoLTE, quite the accomplishment for a newly released custom ROM. Even Google Apps and the camera work, some features which other developers have run into issues with. On the Nexus 6 port by XDA Recognised Developer Myself5 and the rest of the CarbonROM team, there’s much of the same. Everything works, bar the mobile network sometimes after a reboot. That’s easily fixed as well, as you simply need to enter a dialer code and enable the mobile network for it to work. It’s certainly not a dealbreaker as it doesn’t appear to happen every time after a reboot either. The only thing is that encryption is entirely broken. Don’t even try it.

See https://www.xda-developers.com/nexus-6-nexus-5x-aosp-android-pie/

#androidpie

Google is developing native hearing aid support for Android

For the most part, Bluetooth hearing aids have been easily compatible with iPhones, but Android fragmentation has made it difficult for hearing aid manufacturers to provide support to Android devices. Now Google is working to bring native hearing aid support for streaming on Android.

Google has published the new protocol specifications online for any hearing aid manufacturer to build native hearing aid support for Android. GN Hearing has announced that the ReSound LiNX Quattro and Beltone Amaze will be the first hearing aids to receive direct streaming support in a future update.

See https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/8/16/17701902/google-native-hearing-aid-support-android-gn-hearing

Twitter Lite now available in India and 20 more countries

People tend to want more out of the things they already have. A prime example of this is the mobile phone industry, where cellphones used to just be for calling and later texting people on the go but evolved to smartphone use with hundreds of different apps. Now we are at the point where the applications we use are so bloated that they run poorly on low-end hardware—the kind of devices that most people still use. This has sparked a trend where companies release “lite” versions of their applications. Twitter is no exception and this week they announced that Twitter Lite is available for India and 20 additional countries.

The full list is:
Argentina
Belarus
Dominican Republic
Ghana
Guatemala
Honduras
India
Indonesia
Jordan
Kenya
Lebanon
Morocco
Nicaragua
Paraguay
Romania
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
Uruguay
Yemen
Zimbabwe

Previously available to: Algeria, Bangladesh,Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Israel, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Serbia, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, and Venezuela

See https://www.xda-developers.com/twitter-lite-india-20-more-countries/

#twitter

You can now test Microsoft’s “Your Phone” tool to connect your Android device to Windows 10

As technology has progressed, we’ve watched as things have become easier and easier to connect and work together. With the rise of smartphones, a demand grew for wanting to share content to desktops, laptops, tablets, and more. A result of this demand is why the Chromecast has been so successful for Google. Connecting Android to Windows devices has always been a challenge, and that allowed for applications like Pushbullet and Join to garner millions of downloads. Microsoft’s solution to this feature is a tool they have dubbed “Your Phone,” and you can now test it on devices that are running the latest build of Windows 10.

This is something that Microsoft could have solved a decade ago when smartphones began trending to what they are today. However, they were a bit unorganized at that time and once they figured out a plan the company wanted to use the feature as a selling point for Windows Phones. As we all know, the whole Windows Phone project didn’t turn out to be all that it was built up to be. Since its demise, we have watched as Microsoft has begun focusing a lot of their attention on the Android and iOS platforms.

Yes I know if you use Linux KDE you've had this functionality for years already...

See https://www.xda-developers.com/microsoft-your-phone-android-windows-10-2/

Sony posts guide on building Android Open Source Project (AOSP) Android Pie on Xperia devices

When it comes to developer friendly OEMs, Sony is generally somewhere towards the top of the list. While they have been known to do things such as wipe DRM keys when the bootloader is unlocked, they have had multiple developer programs over the years. From giving devices back to the community for their hard work to releasing easy step by step instructions to unlocking your Xperia phone, the company definitely ranks high up in terms of custom development. They’re not deviating from that path just yet either, as the company has posted a guide for building AOSP Android 9 Pie on Xperia devices.

It’s not so much a surprise as it is a welcome guide, though. With every major Android revision, the company releases AOSP build guides complete with software binaries. You can check out the full compatibility list below.

Xperia Touch (G1109)
Xperia X Compact (F5321)
Xperia X Performance (F8131)
Xperia X Performance Dual (F8132)
Xperia X (F5121)
Xperia X Dual (F5122)
Xperia XA2 (H3113)
Xperia XA2 Dual (H4113)
Xperia XA2 Ultra (H3213)
Xperia XA2 Ultra Dual (H4213)
Xperia XZ1 Compact (G8441)
Xperia XZ1 (G8341)
Xperia XZ1 Dual (G8342)
Xperia XZ Premium (G8141)
Xperia XZ Premium Dual (G8142)
Xperia XZ (F8331)
Xperia XZ Dual (F8332)
Xperia XZs (G8231)
Xperia XZs Dual (G8232)

Nice going Sony!!

See https://www.xda-developers.com/sony-builde-aosp-android-pie-xperia-devices/

#sony #AOSP

Android has a lot more ARCore (Augmented Reality) based games and apps in the store now

I was just glancing through the store last night and noticed a lot of ARCore based games and apps now available. It is not just measuring apps, but also virtual cars, virtual doll houses, a good crime game, a tanks game, quite a few virtual wildlife/dinosaur apps, virtual furniture, makeup, tricking out your bicycle, etc. If you have an ARCore enabled phone it's well worth having another look at what is available now.

#ARCore

44 Cool New Features & Changes in Android 9.0 Pie ( good easy-to-read list)

The list linked below really highlights some of the significant improvements with Android Pie. Many of them are long sought after usability tweaks. I posted yesterday about the notifications control and will next feature a post on the app dashboard.

See the list at https://android.gadgethacks.com/news/44-cool-new-features-changes-android-9-0-pie-0183109/

#androidpie

Android Pie's Adaptive Battery management gives more information on battery life and notifications activity

Can be seen from the screenshots that battery and app performance monitoring is a lot better on Android Pie.

The notifications management per app is also improved so that you can now not only see which apps most recently sent notifications, but also sort the apps by the total count of notifications, and then you can fine tune within each app what activities will trigger notifications or not (notifications wake the phone up every time so they can contribute to draining the battery).

#androidpie

Upgraded my Pixel 2 XL to Android 9 Pie and rerooted with Magisk

I do a manual upgrade because the rooting interferes with the OTA upgrade but upgrade went off flawlessly and I'm enjoying the new darker theme.

#androidpie #magisk #android