Month: October 2019

Last week at the Android Dev Summit, Google announced a feature that Chrome OS enthusiasts have wanted for years: the ability to sideload Android apps without enabling Developer Mode. We’ve seen code commits in the past that would have enabled this feature, but none of those implementations ever made their way to the stable channel. Now that Google has officially confirmed this feature will arrive in Chrome OS 80, which is set for a stable release in the second week of February 2020, we no longer need to religiously monitor the Chromium Gerrit for this feature addition.

As you can see in the featured image above, retrieved via AboutChromebooks, Google is adding this feature to let Android app developers deploy their apps straight from Android Studio. With a 22% growth in year-on-year Chromebook sales (from September of 2018 to August of 2019) and the total amount of time spent on Android apps on Chrome OS grown by a factor of 4, Android app developers are incentivized to bring their work to Chromebooks. Developing for Chromebooks requires considerations like how your app reacts to changes in display modes (laptop and tablet), window management (multi-window and free-form windows), and keyboard/mouse input, so it’s recommended to test your app on native hardware. To that end, Google pushed to make Chrome OS more developer-friendly by adding a Linux container last year, enabling the ability to run the Linux version of Android Studio.

While you can develop and build Android apps on a Chromebook, deploying the app is a bit of a headache. Currently, the recommended way to sideload an Android app on Chrome OS is to enable Developer Mode. With Developer Mode enabled, sideloading an Android app is as simple as clicking on your compiled APK file . However, Developer Mode is inherently insecure as it relaxes verified boot protections and grants access to a root shell. It’s also a pain to deal with since it requires powerwashing (factory resetting) your device and dealing with an annoying warning screen that you have to manually bypass on every boot. Thankfully, when Chrome OS 80 rolls out in the stable channel in February 2020, all developers will be able to deploy their Android apps straight from Android Studio onto their Chromebook, without having to enable Developer Mode. If you’re on the Chrome OS Dev channel, you’ll be able to test this out as early as late next month.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Google intends for this feature to be used by end-users. According to the commit that likely implements this feature, this feature requires Crostini (Linux app support) to be enabled, limiting which Chromebooks will have access to the feature. Furthermore, disabling the feature requires a powerwash. If you’re comfortable with the command line, though, sideloading Android apps should be as simple as using “adb install.” Alternatively, you could just “adb push” the APK, enter “adb shell,” and then use “pm install,” right now.

Motorola got heads turning in 2017 when it launched its Moto Mods, which were modular accessories that added to the versatility of the Moto Z2 Play and earned it a solid 4.5 stars from us two years ago. Now, a challenger brand, Doogee, wants to do the same thing with its new flagship model, the S95 Pro.

While its rival Blackview focuses on one single unique selling point, a FLIR IR camera, in its latest product, the heat-seeking BV9800 Pro, Doogee opted for expansion capabilities.

You can add a battery module or a speaker module; the latter has two 27mm speakers and an integrated battery. The battery module has a 3500mAh that tacks on the 5150mAh already present in the phone, delivering a whopping 8650mAh capacity, which can be wirelessly charged.

The manufacturer has alluded to more modules depending on demand; that might include special camera modules or walkie-talkie style ones, all of which will magnetically attach to the phone.

A camera with some oomph

The rest of the configuration is not bad at all; there’s a Mediatek P90 CPU with 8GB RAM with 128GB onboard storage, a 48-megapixel Sony IMX582 camera, NFC, Android 9.0 and a 10X optical zoom.

As for the price? Gearbest sells the S95 Pro for $364.99 after factoring in a $5 coupon plus we’ve been informed that the first 100 buyers will get a free pair of Bluetooth earbuds worth $30. Use the coupon code 104792861339731428 at checkout. 

USI (Universal Stylus Initiative) devices are most certainly an emerging tech. While there are some big-name players on board with the cross-device technology, finding computers the feature USI compatibility is still a tough task to take on. Getting your hands on an actual USI-capable stylus is even more difficult. The USI product showcase lists three companies said to produce the styli and HP is supposed to be releasing one with their own branding. Unfortunately, finding them available anywhere is all but impossible.

Still, USI technology is coming and HP is the first out of the gate with not one but two Chromebooks that feature the tech. Announced last month, the HP Chromebook X360 14b popped up on Amazon over the weekend and now the 12″, 3:2 model has arrived there as well as HP’s online store. Before you go grabbing your wallet, there are a few things to point out about the new devices.

First, the price. While the new X360s keep the styling and design of the more premium X360 14, they are still priced around $350. That’s not a bad deal but it’s difficult to recommend when you can still grab the Core i3, 8GB X360 14 for around $450 on a good day and even less on other days. Speaking of price, the 12″ version of the HP Chromebook X360 offers nothing that the 14″ won’t give you apart from the 3:2 screen ratio. Yet, the 14b with the exact same specs is currently on sale at Amazon during a limited time deal and it’s $40 less than the 12b. I’m not telling you which one to buy but it seems like a no-brainer if you’re seriously considering one of these.

Next is the USI factor. Yes, you will eventually be able to get a stylus from multiple manufacturers that will work on these devices as well as any other USI-capable computer. However, as I mentioned above, you’ll be hard-pressed to buy one of those at the moment or even find information on how to identify a USI stylus. It is my sincere hope that this will change as the tech is more widely adopted. One thing is for sure, pen makers would do well to make sure they are clearly branding their products with the USI label it anyone is to take an interest.

In the meantime, if you’re still interested, you can check out the all-new HP Chromebook X360 12b at the links below. The retail price is $359.

Apple has been rumored to be launching a Tile-like item tracker for months now, and it appears the device could be named AirTag. 9to5Mac has spotted references to AirTag within the iOS 13.2 update that shipped to devices today, hinting that this Tile-like device may even appear very soon.

References to Apple’s potential location tracking tags first appeared in early iOS 13 beta code, and rumors suggested Apple would introduce the devices alongside the iPhone 11 at last month’s event. That Apple event came and went without a mention of AirTag or any Tile-like features, but the hints in iOS 13.2 could mean Apple might be ready to unveil its tag hardware and features.

Apple surprised everyone with AirPods Pro earlier today, after rumors suggested these new noise-canceling headphones would appear at the end of October. Apple could pull a similar surprise for AirTag, or whatever the company is planning to call this device. 9to5Mac notes that the AirTag references in iOS 13.2 simply include placeholder images of AirPods, but that Apple can update these images remotely.

Either way, if Apple does introduce an AirTag accessory then it will clearly be competing directly with Tile. The location tracking company has attempted to embed its technology directly into Bluetooth chips recently, in an effort to move beyond just the tags. Tile has teamed up with Qualcomm, Dialog Semiconductor, Silicon Labs, and Toshiba to include Tile compatibility as an option on future chipsets. Tile has also previously partnered with Boosted and Bose to embed its location tracking network into the companies’ gadgets.

After what seems like ages, there seems to be news on the high-end AMD GPU front. An AMD device codenamed “ATI-102-D18802” recently passed RRA certification and while this might seem like just a random string of digits, I used to trawl the now-dead Zauba all day long for relevant shipping entries which followed the same naming convention – and was quickly able to decipher it. The GPU in question is a much powerful variant of the Navi GPU (judging from the nomenclature) and here is the full story. That said, considering this is based on just a certification which could end up being scrapped/revised again for all we know, please do keep a pinch of salt handy.

AMD’s Big Navi GPU gets getting its RRA certification, Radeon graphics cards preparing for a comeback in the high-end GPU market

I am sure AMD wanted to keep this under wraps and make a comeback, but as they should know from Zen, the leak scene reigns supreme in the end. Before I go any further, I want to clarify that passing an RRA certification is usually the first step in the final phase of getting a product to market. It can take anywhere from 3 months to 6 months before you finally see a polished product hitting the shelves.

The RRA certification is something all consumer ASICs have to go through in South Korea – just like in the US. Unlike the States, however, RRA publishes its certifications in the public domain, which is great for us because it allows us to sniff out interesting new GPUs that are in the official pipeline. The AMD ATI-102-D18802 GPU received its RRA certification yesterday, meaning AMD has not only finalized its plans for the upcoming GPU but submitted it to the authorities as well (no more changes in design are now possible).

The naming convention at play here is the one AMD used for shipping manifests during the Zauba years and something we were able to readily decode. To give you a recap: Hawaii boards were named C6XXXX, Tonga boards C7XXXX, Fiji boards C8XXXX, Polaris boards C9XXXX, Vega boards D12XXX and small Navi boards were named D18XXX.

In fact, if we are being specific about it, then the exact code names were:

Hawaii XT had the C67101 code name.

Tonga had the C76501 code name.

Fiji XT had the C88001 code name.

Polaris 11 had the C91103 code name.

Vega 64 had the D12201 code name.

‘Small’ Navi had the D18205 code name.

You should be able to see a very clear pattern here. The first couple of digits represent the generation while the succeeding digits represent the relative performance metrics. The reason I know we are looking at a Navi GPU is because the three-digit alphanumeric sequence is the same: namely D18. The succeeding three digits represent the relative performance of the GPU and 805 represents a much more powerful variant of Navi compared to 205.

Considering it just passed the certification, we are likely looking at the RDNA2-based full Navi die that will support ray tracing at a hardware level. This is the same GPU that will power the next-generation PlayStation 5 and the Xbox as well (remember AMD designed Navi for the consoles, read more about that over here). In all likelihood, we are finally catching our first glimpse of “big” Navi. You might remember my exclusive published a year and a half back that predicted that the flagship Navi part won’t land earlier than 2H 2019 or early 2020. Well, there you have it, folks, it’s finally happening.

I do want to turn on the cold shower a bit here, however, just because a GPU has passed RRA certification does not mean you will see it on the shelves anytime soon. In fact, a minimum of 6 months is a very good time frame to keep in mind and this can easily extend to over a year. We spotted Vega almost a full year back on RRA before it was finally released – which should give you an idea of the time frames involved.

Asus is rolling out a new gaming monitor that has the potential to be a nice upgrade, based on the specifications. However, that will depend in large part on how pricing shakes out for the new TUF Gaming VG249Q.

On paper, there is not much to complain about. The monitor is built around a 23.8-inch (we’ll just call it 24 inches) IPS panel, so it should offer better visuals and a much large viewing sweet spot than a TN display.

It’s a Full HD 1080p (1920×1080) monitor with a 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time. That latter figure is an MPRT (moving picture response time) rating and not gray-to-gray, and I’ve never gotten a concrete answer on how the two measurements compare, as touted on some gaming monitors. Blur Busters offers a bunch of technical details, though, if you’re curious. In short, it uses backlight strobing to sort of trick your eyes into seeing a faster response time. Asus calls these Extreme Low Motion Blur (ELMB).

Size—23.8 inches (16:9 aspect ratio)

Color saturation—72 percent NTSC

Panel type—IPS

Resolution—1920×1080

Brightness—250 nits

Contrast ratio—1000:1 (typical)

Viewing angles—178 degrees (horizontal and vertical)

Response time—1ms MPRT

Refresh rate (max)—144Hz

This also supports AMD’s FreeSync technology.

Connectivity options consist of HDMI, DisplayPort, and VGA ports (one each). There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack and onboard 2W stereo speakers, but no built-in USB hub.

On the ergonomics side, the stand supports making tilt, swivel, pivot, and height adjustments.

We’ll have to wait and see how this stacks up against the VG248QE, which we list as the best monitor for gaming in the 1080p category. The VG248QE uses a TN panel, though, so the TUF Gaming VG249Q potentially offers the same resolution and fast speed in a higher quality package.

There’s no word yet on when the VG249Q will be available or how much it will cost. So for now, if you’re looking for something relatively cheap, have a look at our list of cheap gaming monitor deals.

Google may be one of the world’s biggest smartphone makers but it has come up with a way to help people use their device less.

Dubbed the Paper Phone, the tech giant’s latest experiment is aimed at promoting “digital wellness” by offering a simple solution to smartphone addiction.

It allows users to give up their phone for an entire day by putting any information needed – such as contact details, map directions and meetings – into a printable, phone-sized booklet.

“A lot of people feel like they spend too much time on their phones and miss out on the things that are right in front of their eyes. But it’s hard to use our phones less because we’ve come to depend on them,” explains a video showcasing the Paper Phone.

“We’ve come up with a simple way to have a digital detox. All you need to do is choose the things which are important to you and our app will print out your very own paper phone.”

Google is not the first tech firm to attempt to address issues relating to digital addictions, with Apple’s latest iOS 12 update including a feature called Screen Time that allows users to set limitations on how much they use their iPhone or iPad.

Google has also included similar features in Android, while apps like Quality Time monitor how much time someone spends on certain apps and provides incentives to cut down.

Several studies have pointed to the negative impact that social media and excessive smartphone use can have on people with regards to their mental health.

Earlier this year, the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) launched Scroll Free September in an attempt to get people to take back control of the technology in their lives by cutting back on social media.

In the same way Dry January aims to encourage people to abstain from alcohol, the Scroll Free September campaign hoped to prompt people to reconsider their use of apps like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

“Many of us are guilty of becoming consumed by social media and whilst there are many benefits to using the various platforms which are available, it’s important to take some time out,” said Chris Elmore, chair of the all-party parliamentary group on social media and young people’s mental health and wellbeing.

“Whether it’s scrolling before bed stopping you sleeping, following aspirational and unattainable accounts denting your self-esteem, or the ever-presence of phones getting in the way of your face-to-face interactions with friends and family.”

Google said about its Paper Phone: “We hope this little experiment can help you try a digital detox from technology and help you focus on the things that matter the most.”

It seems as though the an upgraded version of Apple’s AirPods have been rumoured for months. We had a minor upgrade earlier this year, but all those came with was better connectivity and battery life. Both are very useful, but not the kind of thing people were expecting. Now, though, Apple’s gone and made the AirPods Pro official.

The first thing you might notice about the AirPods Pro are that they have a brand new design. Rather than that rubbish design that always seems content to sit in your ear without any sort of secure fit, these are in-ear earbuds. In other words Apple has promised they have a better seal and fit than AirPods have before. As with most in-ear buds, those tips are removable, made from silicone, and come in three different sizes to better suit your unique ear shape.

That seal is quite important too, since these come with active noise cancellation, which has been rumoured for next-gen AirPods for what seems like forever. That’s done with two microphones that can remove the background noise in a way Apple says is custom to you. The same is true for the ‘Adaptive EQ’, which Apple says will automatically tune the low and mid frequencies of the music according to the shape of your ear.

Other features include Siri control (obviously) water and sweat resistance (good) and a ‘transparency mode’ that lets you listen to the AirPods while still being able to hear what’s going on around you. In case you want to hear tannoy announcements or something. So far, so standard.

Apple has also included a new force sensor on the stem, which can be used to control what you hear, though users can also use the iOS Control Center or the Apple Watch to do some of that as well.

Battery wise Apple is promising four and a half hours of listening time (or three and a half hours talk time), and as usual you can use the case to top them up for a maximum of 24 hours use. The case also features wireless charging as standard.